Infantry
by Mister Cynical
Summary: Shinji can't take it anymore. He has finally decided to run away for good. Can he loose himself and his past in humankind's first interstellar war?
1. Chapter One

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter One:

"Papers." Shinji Ikari handed his paperwork to the old sergeant sitting behind his desk and watched as the man read through them. His worn, scarred face broke into a sudden grin. "A grunt!"

"Yes sir," Shinji replied.

"Mobile Infantry!" the sergeant added. "Outstanding! My unit." He thrust out his hand. "Shake son." Shinji took the man's hand and tried to hide his pain as the old, but clearly not feeble, sergeant nearly crushed his hand. He looked around and leaned forward with a sly grin. "What'd you actually request?"

"Infantry sir," Shinji stated. The man's sly grin dropped and his eyes widened for just a moment before his grinned again.

"Don't get many requests for Infantry from these parts," he commented. "The nearest recruit depot would be. . ." he trailed off and frowned as he thought.

"Siberia," Shinji supplied. The man frowned.

"Thought there was one in China somewhere," he stated. He shrugged. "Oh well. Siberia will make a man out of you, or kill you. It's where I went through. Now get along, I'm sure you want to get home to spend you last night as a civilian having fun."

"Sure." Shinji didn't really.

"Oh, do you speak Standard English?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Not everybody is so nice as to speak Japanese! Now go have fun!" With another crushing handshake, Shinji turned and headed for the doors leading out into the cool Tokyo-3 night. He never even saw the other man coming.

"Damn it." Shinji sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry!" Shinji glanced up and saw the man who had slammed into him offering him a hand. Shinji took it and was dragged to his feet. "I'm really sorry. I'm just heading out to meet with my parents before I head to Siberia tomorrow."

"Siberia?" Shinji parroted.

"Yeah!" the man proclaimed, puffing out his chest. "I'm going to be Infantry, just like my dad. Say one bad thing and I'll have to smack you."

"I'm going to be Infantry too," Shinji stated. The man's face brightened.

"Cool! We'll be shipping out together than."

"Aren't you going to be later?" Shinji asked. The man's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull.

"I gotta go! See you tomorrow." Shinji watched him sprint away.

"Odd guy."

(:ii:)

"So where did you disappear to again?" Shinji glanced away from the microwave and saw his guardian standing in the doorway to the kitchen with her hands on her hips.

"He was probably out with his looser friends," Asuka Sohryu called from somewhere in the small apartment.

"That reminds me," Misato Katsuragi stated. "Kensuke called while you were out. He told me to tell you that he got R&D on Sanctuary and was shipping out today. I tried to call you, but your phone was off."

"Yeah," Shinji replied absently as the microwave's buzzer went off. He took out the cup of instant noodles and frowned as Misato snatched them out of his hand.

"Thanks!" she chirped. She snapped the disposable chopsticks and peeled the lid off. "You'd better start applying for colleges. Didn't you say you were thinking about going to Tokyo-2 University?"

"I guess," Shinji replied. In all actuality, he had told her that to get her off his back. He had no real desire to go to college. "I'm going to sleep."

"But it's still early!" Misato whined. "Let's have a party." Shinji sidestepped past her and managed to make it to his room. He turned the lock before Misato could come barging in and collapsed on his bed. He felt sick. What had he been thinking to sign up for service?

The world was so different than how it was before the Third Impact had sent it spinning into chaos. It had taken the combined efforts of veterans from all over the world to bring order and some peace back to the planet and a continued fascist regime, the Federation, to keep it that way.

Shinji rolled over and stared out his window. In the distance he could see a bright white star shoot up from the ground towards the sky like a meteorite in reverse. At least there was an upside to having an all powerful and highly organized government.

In the few short years since the Impact the scientific world had shifted into overdrive. Dwindling resources had turned the Federation's collective eye towards the heavens and almost within a year mankind had mining outposts on several planets and true colonies on Mars. The development of Cherenkov Drive had even led to a new human planet on the world of Sanctuary. By the world's best guess, the science of space travel had jumped seven generations. An almost impossible accomplishment, but one that mankind had shown precedence for. After all, mankind had gone from clumsy, barely controllable motorized gliders to hypersonic aircraft that could almost turn on a dime in less than a century.

Of course there was always a price to pay for such things. With its barely planned and reckless dash for the stars, mankind had run smack into its first interstellar enemy. No one knew what the Arachnids wanted really. All anyone really knew was that the aliens did not want to share. War was coming and Shinji had voluntarily signed up for the unit that would be fighting it. So again, what had he been thinking to sign up for service?

"Hey Shinji!" Shinji could hear Misato pawing at his door. "Everybody's coming over! Come on out and party!"

"No thanks. I'm going to sleep." The sergeant had told him to spend his last night having fun.

"Come on!" Misato whined.

"No." Not even a week in and he was already not following orders.

(:ii:)

"Hey!" Shinji turned and stared at the man he had met the night before. "You're early!"

"So are you," Shinji returned flatly. He had never been good at talking to people, let alone strangers.

"I know," the man stated. "I'm Christopher Aquil."

"Shinji Ikari," Shinji stated as he received a handshake that was almost as tight as the sergeant's.

"Well I'll be damned." Shinji turned again and saw the very sergeant he had been thinking of. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here."

"No sir." The sergeant grinned and looked around.

"Look here. Could you do me a favor?" Shinji nodded. "I need you to watch this guy." He jerked his thumb at Chris. "Sad to say he got his mother's brains, God rest her soul."

"Dad!" Chris protested. The sergeant laughed uproariously.

"Excuse me. I have a call to make." Neither father nor son took any notice as they began to argue. Shinji walked over to the row of vid-phones on one wall and fed one a few coins before punching in the number. Several rings passed before the other end picked up.

"Hello?" If Misato looked half as hung over as she sounded, it was no wonder why the phone's small video screen flashed the message 'voice only.'

"It's me," Shinji stated

"You aren't home?" she asked blearily. "Is something wrong?"

"I signed up with the Federation," Shinji stated.

"The Federation!" Misato shrieked, making Shinji wince. The screen suddenly flashed to life, showing a very ill-looking purple-haired former Lieutenant Colonel. She had never come to see the Federation as the saviors that most of the world saw them as, quite the opposite actually.

"I'm shipping out now. Goodbye." Shinji hung up the phone before she could respond. He made his way back to where Chris and his father were still arguing. Sergeant Aquil glanced up.

"Calling your family?" he asked.

"They aren't my family," Shinji stated. The man's eyes widened slightly.

"Whatever you say kiddo." He tripped Chris absently and sent him sprawling to the ground.

(:ii:)

"I am your Senior Drill Instructor!" the man in front of Shinji bellowed. "My name is Career Ship's Sergeant Zang!" The little Chinese man indeed locked like he had been in the military so long as to not have a first name. "Perfect! This is just fucking perfect!" Shinji watched out of the corner of his eye as Zang strode up and down the shivering formation. Siberia might have been warmed by two consecutive impacts, but it was still damned cold. "I guess with those fucking bugs running around killing good Cap Troopers, they'll let just about anybody in now! Know this; a hundred of you couldn't replace a single one of them." He stopped and scowled. "If you survive this you might just have what it takes to do so. Do you understand me!"

"Yes sir!" The reply was muddled and weak as the recruits were suddenly snapped out of their shivering dazes by the direct question.

"Bull shit!" Zang snapped. "This ain't the Navy. When I say something you say something louder and with the word sir on the end. Do you understand that!"

"Yes sir!" Zang sighed in disgust than his face lit up with a grin.

"You recruits are lucky, for I am the best drill instructor in the world!" he announced. "I am hard and I will do one of three things to you! I will kill you, make you quit, or I will make you into an Infantry combat soldier. Those are you choices. Look to your left and look to your right!" Shinji did as he was instructed automatically. "By the time this unit reaches the end of its training cycles, chances are, the three of you won't be here. Anybody want to try and prove me wrong?" After a moment a massive man stepped out of the line near its head. "Do we have a contender?" The man stated something in a language Shinji couldn't understand.

"He says that he will prove you wrong sir!" One of the other men at the front yelled.

"I speak Russian!" Zang snapped. He grinned as he waved the massive man over. "Do you understand Standard English?"

"Da."

"Da what?" Zand demanded.

"Da, sir," the man replied.

"Good." Zang dropped the baton he had been twirling about and than unsnapped his utility belt as well. "Have at it Ruskie."

(:ii:)

"Did you see that big guy Blue?" One of the instructor-corporals who couldn't be bothered to learn names had designated Shinji as Blue.

"I saw," Shinji stated as he forced down the food he had been given. Misato's cooking was worse, but not by much.

"He must have flown a dozen yards!" the man continued. He was laughing so hard he was crying. Shinji finished his meal and almost automatically ran his hand over his freshly shorn head.

"That won't make it grow back any faster," Chris commented. He was staring at his place and looked fairly green. He finally pushed his plate away with a sigh. "You want it?" Shinji nodded. For some reason he was ravenous. "How can you eat that stuff?"

"I've had worse," Shinji stated.

"I meant, how can you eat it after a three mile run?" Chris asked.

"It's not that bad," the man who had been laughing stated. His name was Dimitri and he was one of the oldest and loudest men in the entirety of Bravo Company. "What do you guys think so far?"

"I'm thinking I should never have signed up for this shit," Shinji stated. He was too tired and cold to care much about trying to be polite.

"Who do you think they're going to make recruit-corporal?" Dimitri pressed.

"Probably you Dim," Chris replied. "But only because you're old and loud." Shinji gagged slightly as he tried to laugh and swallow at the same time.

"There's nothing wrong with being old and loud." They turned and saw that the speaker was one of the junior drill instructors, a man named Corporal Markham. "Though there is something wrong with being a boot non-com."

"What?" Dimitri asked. "Getting more responsibility?"

"Bingo," Markham replied as he lit a cigarette. "Not only yours, but everyone else's as well."

"You guys wouldn't cause any trouble for me, right?" Dimitri demanded, his eyes narrowing.

"Not me," Shinji stated as he finished his second tray.

"Do I look like a trouble-maker?" Chris asked. Shinji gagged again and began coughing as he choked up the water he had been drinking.

"Looks like Blue's as good a judge of character as I am," Markham stated. "Maybe I'll put my lot it for him."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Yes, it's another rewrite from yours truly. Why? Well, I wrote the original quite some time ago and decided that it needed to be brought up to speed now that I'm planning to update it. That's right folks, this one's back on the air!


	2. Chapter Two

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Two:

To Shinji, basic training in Siberia was a very strange experience. It was hard. He had known it would be, but knowing and experiencing were two different things. Yet despite the hardship, or perhaps because of it, he was enjoying himself. Sure he was sore and tired and a dozen other variations on that theme, but he was enjoying himself. It wasn't happiness; it was much deeper than that. He was satisfied and proud.

Boot camp sped by in a blur of unchanging routine broken only by a few events. Dimitri made recruit-corporal. He lasted a full month before a training accident left him with his brains on the ground and the deed to his very own farm. Shinji had suddenly found himself trying to fill the old man's shoes. Within a week there was another accident and Shinji had been made a recruit-private again with the addition of five lashes on his back.

Through it all Chris kept by his side and for the first time in Shinji's life, he had a friend he truly believed he could count on.

They were issued rifles and kept them within reach for months on end until the armor training had arrive and the flimsy rifles had been replaced with plasma weapons, flame throwers, and tactical nuke launchers that could only be truly wielded by a suited individual.

The armor, an extension of old American Army exo-skeletons, had been where Shinji excelled, much to his surprise. The massive fighting suit had just felt so natural to him. The instructors had taken notice.

Another promotion was followed by another demotion, this time sans lashing.

Using the armor had been just as natural when they moved into the Ural Mountains and then on top drops. The drops had been a rush. Shinji simply couldn't get enough of them. Other recruits would get the shakes staring into the launch tubes, but Shinji just felt excited.

Through it all Shinji felt himself changing. The physical changes were easy to see. The psychological ones were much harder to identify. He didn't even notice himself until a sparring match with Chris had led to the larger man flat on his back. Shinji didn't just have a knack for fighting in giant robots, he had a knack for fighting period. He had looked down at Chris and so help him, he had been proud.

Than came the final test. A drop followed by a march of too many miles to count with no sleep. Some troopers dropped and were carried by their brothers in arms. The end of the march and they found themselves clustered around a stage. The regional commander had stared at them and tossed his cigarette on the ground. A short speech later and he declared that they were Mobile Infantry from then until forever. Shinji had been unable to speak. He had stared at the ground until Zang walked up to him and laid a tiny winged skull in his palm. A handshake and slug to the shoulder later, the instructor was moving onto the next new Mobile Infantryman.

Shinji had stared at that pin. It wasn't really anything special, just a hunk of metal, but at that time Shinji wouldn't have given it up to anyone for anything. It was his and he had earned it with his blood, sweat, and tears. At that moment he had felt tears blurring his vision and tried to hide it. He didn't really have to. Every single ex-recruit in his range of vision was crying, tears cutting through the dust that smeared their cheeks.

Shinji had been prouder then he had ever been before. He was a Mobile Infantrymen and he'd be damned if he ever did something to prove that false.

(:ii:)

"Would you look at that!" Chris asked as he stared at the spaceship in wonder. Shinji was right beside him, his hands pressed eagerly against the viewing port. "The White Feather."

"Yeah," Ruskie replied, his Standard English still carrying a thick Russian accent he had never been able to loose. The little transport swung around and a new shape appeared that easily dwarfed the White Feather. "What's that?"

"That's the Valley Forge," Shinji answered. "Those ships can carry entire battalions."

"Wow," Chris commented. The transport boat nudged up against the White Feather and the docking hatch sprung open. They all clambered across the transparent tunnel connecting the two ships. Shinji stopped at the White Feather's hatch and quickly saluted the Federation flag hanging on the bulkhead. He turned and saluted the only man present.

"Permission to come aboard sir."

"Granted," the man returned tiredly with a sharp salute. The others repeated his words until all six had been ordered aboard. The man who had granted them permission eyed them all.

"I'm Sergeant Rotuno," he stated. "Right now the platoon sergeant and the lieutenant are too busy to handle a bunch of FNGs. They sent me here to give you the basic brief. I am, and you are about to become, a part of Second Platoon, Charlie Company. We take great pride in being the most destructive men in the entire fucking Federation. It's our job to go in when it's too hot for anybody else and blow shit up until its nice and quiet. We are peace through superior firepower. Do you understand that?"

"Yes sir!" Meyers nodded.

"Welcome to the War Dogs." The sergeant paused for a moment eyed them carefully. "A word to the wise, you aren't anyone till you drop with us. Just so you know." Chris watched as the man disappeared.

"What the hell did that mean?"

"We aren't real MI to them until we drop," Shinji translated. He adjusted the strap of the heavy duffel slung over his shoulder. "I'm starving."

"You're always starving," Ruskie replied.

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "But I'm hungry too. Let's go find the chow hall."

(:ii:)

"Wake up trooper. On the bounce." Those three little words tacked to the end of that statement had a very profound effect on Shinji. He leapt out of his rack and snapped to attention. The man who had awoken him stumbled back in surprise. "Jesus H. Christ! Chill out cherry." Shinji came to his sense and looked around. "I refuse to believe I was every that tightly wound."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," the man stated. He was wearing stained coveralls without rank pins on the collar. Shinji also couldn't help but notice that his hair had been cut into a short, one-inch tall Mohawk.

"Nice hair."

"Don't be a dick," the man ordered as he lit a long, thin cigar. "First day here and already picking fights with your section leader. I'm Sergeant Ford. Nice to meet you." Shinji shook the man's hand and glanced at his watch.

"Is something wrong?"

"Your boot records say you have a yen for the armor," Ford stated. "I need an assistant in Ordinance and Armor. What do you say?"

"Yes sir."

"Sarge," Ford corrected. "I work for a living. The lieutenant and sometimes the platoon sergeant are sirs." Shinji quickly pulled on a pair of coveralls and followed the man out into the passageway. "We need coffee first. Then I'll give you the grand tour of the suit lockers. You know anything about how they work?"

"Only what the taught me in boot Sarge," Shinji replied.

"That's all I knew," Ford replied. He stepped through a low hatch and into the room Shinji recognized as the mess hall. They walked through another door and into the galley where Ford grabbed a pot of coffee.

"Where is everyone Sarge?"

"Still racking," Ford stated. "I don't have time for sleep right now. My last assistant freaked out and refused to climb into his armor. Just one of those things, you know?"

"No Sarge." Shinji had never had trouble with the armor. He never could understand why some of the other recruits panicked and went into convulsions.

"Consider yourself lucky." Ford pulled a large skillet off the stove. "Now eat up. We've got a major deadline and we're gonna have to skip lunch." Shinji eyed the extremely crispy stack of pancakes.

"Perfect."

(:ii:)

"What do you think Blue?" Shinji stared down into the mass of wires that had seemingly burst from the armored suit the moment the torso armor was removed.

"It looks complicated." Ford laughed.

"I knew there was a reason why I picked you," he stated. "You're just like me."

"God help us." Shinji turned and snapped to attention as another man in coveralls stepped into the suit locker. The single silver bar on each of his lapels glistened brightly in the light. "At ease," he grunted. "How are you doing Sarge?"

"Not great sir," Ford returned. "This is going to be a last minute dash any way you cut it, but with Blue's help it can be done."

"Good," the lieutenant replied. He glanced at Shinji. "Private Ikari, correct?"

"Yes sir," Shinji replied.

"Blue," he added.

"Yes sir," Shinji repeated. The lieutenant nodded and disappeared out into the passageway again.

"Lieutenant Wilcox is a strait shooter," Ford stated as he fired up a big welding gun. "I went to boot with him. He spent his time before OCS in recon. Kind of ironic to be back together again after all these years. Think you can solder that circuit board for me?"

"I'll give it a shot, Sarge." Shinji turned to the circuit board in question and set about soldering the circuit board in question. "Why are we in such a rush?"

"It's the MI," Ford replied as he dropped his torch and began kicking the suit he had been working on. "Everything's a rush, you know? Well, it is until it's time to wait. Hurry up and wait." He picked up a long, silver wrench and clubbed the suit on the side of its head. Something creaked and the monitoring device Ford had plugged into the suit began to beep steadily. "Bingo."

"Does that work every time?" Shinji asked.

"Pretty much," Ford replied. "Just remember, they made these things for grunts, therefore you can't break them." He hesitated for a moment. "Let me rephrase that last part, it takes a lot more to break them." He grinned brightly and used the welding gun to light his cigar. "Although, I can break anything in ten seconds or less."

"You're proud of that?" Shinji asked.

"Absolutely," Ford stated. "Wouldn't you be?" Shinji thought about that for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I would." He turned back to the board and finished up the task at hand. "So, this order would have nothing to do with an attack?"

"Maybe," Ford replied. The hatch slammed up again and a short, swarthy man appeared, gasping for air. "That's Corporal Vigianno," Ford added. "He's your squad leader. What's up Viggie?"

"We've been attacked," Vigianno panted.

(:ii:)

Shinji stared at the images being relayed by the massive flat screen that took up one whole wall of the chow hall. It seemed like the ship's entire crew was packed in there. The reported continued to drone on in the background. "A conclusive body count is impossible to ascertain right now, but estimates are in the high millions," she stated. "The Sky Marshal has confirmed that this was a deliberate act of aggression by the Arachnids." The screen shifted to show a tall, balding man with a badly scarred face. Shinji didn't need the news show's footnotes to know that the man was the Sky Marshal.

"At eleven thirty-five Greenwich Mean Time a large asteroid sent by the Arachnids impacted on Buenos Aires," the man rasped. "Due to this blatant and unprovoked attack on our home planet, I have asked the Federation to recognize that a state of war exists between the human race and the Arachnids." The chow hall was immediately filled with the yammering of a platoon of MI and a ship's Navy crew.

"Shit," Ford cursed. "We're going to war."

"Sarge." The calm voice cut through the din with ease and everything fell silent as all eyes turned to the Lieutenant.

"Here sir," Ford replied.

"Get Blue and get in the armory," the silver-haired man rasped. "I want us at one hundred percent readiness. We're going to war and the War Dogs are not going to be caught sleeping."

"Roger that sir," Ford replied. He grabbed Shinji by his coverall's epaulets. "Let's go Blue." Shinji nodded and hurried out of the chow hall. Ford was cursing every other step. "We have a ninety-percent readiness right now," he stated. "We need all suits functioning and we also need to get the FNGs sized up."

"Want to fit me up when we get there?" Shinji asked. "I can do the rest of the new guys after that." Ford paused and grinned at him sheepishly.

"I forgot you were an FNG," he stated. "That's the plan, copy?"

"Copy that Sarge." It was odd to think that over a year ago Shinji had been dreading the thought of war as he signed his enlistment papers. Now there was no denying the rush he felt as he considered the idea. "Are we going to get in the fight soon, Sarge?"

"We're the War Dogs, Blue," Ford stated. "The MI knows not to leave us behind. We're like their own vicious, snarling little good luck charm. They'll want us on point."

"Good."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Well folks, here is number two. Not much has changed again, but this isn't really a rewrite, it's more an update.


	3. Chapter Three

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Three:

"Where's the next suit, Sarge?" Shinji watched tiredly as Ford ran down the checklist in his hand a frowned. "What's wrong?"

"There are no more," the sergeant stated simply.

"What?"

"We're done!" Ford cheered. He released the straps holding him into place and happily floated away from the suit he had been repairing. "This bad boy was the last one!"

"Thank god." Shinji released his own straps and pushed off lightly. He floated away from his workstation to where his water bottle was Velcro-ed in place and grabbed it. "Is it always this bad?"

"Pre-drops can be hectic," Ford stated. "When you first came aboard we were taking on new troops because we had lost a few in a boarder clash with the Skinnies. Those bastards got in a few lucky shots during the drop and then detonated a nuke."

"That must have been bad," Shinji commented as he fumbled in the pen pocket on the sleeve of his coveralls and found a cigar. Ford produced a lighter and Shinji quickly lit his cigar.

"The suits glowed for a few weeks," Ford replied, " and I'm pretty sure the fucking things made me sterile. Let's get food."

"Sounds good to me."

"You managing to keep anything down yet?" Eating in zero gravity had proven to be tricky. Keeping food down in zero gravity was trickier still.

"Not your horrible cooking Sarge," Shinji shot back. The cook was doped up and knocked out with the rest of the platoon. In all honesty, Shinji would have preferred to join them. Floating around when the Navy had first switched off the gravity machines to conserve power as the White Feather slipped into Cherenkov drive had been fun for about an hour. After that, Shinji had come to the firm decision that if man had been meant to float, he wouldn't have been born with legs.

"Smart ass," Ford grumbled. Shinji nodded and followed the man out the hatch and down the passageway towards the chow hall.

"Have you heard anything about a drop yet?" Shinji asked.

"Nope," Ford replied. "Tell you what, though, as soon as I do, you'll be the first to know." The hatch to the chow hall slid open and Shinji frowned as he noticed three men sitting inside.

"Morning Sarge," the Lieutenant commented as he sucked coffee from one of the zero-G squeeze bottles. "How're the suits?"

"All done, sir," Ford replied cheerfully as he disappeared into the galley. He reappeared a moment later and tossed Shinji another bottle of coffee. "I forgot they were waking you guys up today,"

"You're hopeless," the Platoon Sergeant, a small, but broad Asian man named Izumi, grumbled. He turned on Shinji and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh God, you've turned him into a mini-you." Shinji unconsciously reached up and felt the Mohawk Ford had cut into his hair.

"Blue's bigger than him," the Lieutenant commented. "Where'd you go to boot, Blue?"

"Siberia, sir," Shinji replied.

"That explains it," Izumi stated. "That's where I went through. With all those damned huge Russians running around, even the little guys from Asia get big."

"I've heard that before," Ford agreed. "Did you hear anything about a drop yet?"

"Oh, yeah," the Lieutenant replied. "We got three days of cruising to go, but we have a definite drop day and time."

"Where are we going, sir?" Ford pressed.

"Klendathu," the Lieutenant replied. "They hit Earth, so we're gonna hit their home planet, only, we aren't gonna just throw rocks. We're gonna throw MI." Ford nodded and sipped his coffee before turning to Shinji.

"I just heard, Blue," he stated. "There's going to be a big drop on Klendathu in three days." Shinji sighed and massaged his temples.

"Don't be a dick, Sarge." He frowned and grabbed his coffee as it made a break for freedom, and the ceiling.

"Oh, my God. He really is a mini-Sarge," Izumi groaned. "Just what we need."

"Don't be a dick," Ford grumbled. He paused for a minute and scowled. "Don't say a word."

"Heh," Sergeant Rotuno snorted. Ford flipped the man off and finished his coffee. "I am so glad I'm not your assistant section leader any more. Any more of that and I'd have given you a couple sets of lumps."

"Wouldn't help," the Lieutenant commented. "I gave him a dozen lumps for cracking jokes and getting us in trouble in boot."

"You never know sir," Rotuno replied. A klaxon wailed and Shinji suddenly found himself being pressed firmly down into his chair.

"Oh thank God."

"Gravities back," Ford commented unnecessarily. "You're a good cook, right Blue?" Shinji sighed again and finished his coffee. "How about breakfast?"

"Anybody else, gentlemen?" Shinji asked. Three hands rose into the air and Shinji's eye ticked. "Coming right up."

(:ii:)

"Blue!" Shinji glanced up and grinned as he saw Chris walking towards him. He had been missing the man. "I woke up with drawings on my face. What do you know about it?"

"Not a damned thing." Years of living with Shinji's former roommates had given him one hell of a poker face.

"Sure," Chris replied. "Nice hair."

"Thanks." Chris made his way into the galley and returned with a large tray. The cook had started preparing breakfast the moment he had awoken. Shinji had taken advantage of the situation and was enjoying another breakfast. Chris sat down.

"Did you hear anything?"

"Drop in three days on Klendathu," Shinji stated. The Lieutenant hadn't told him to keep the information to himself and it was bound to get out anyway. "The briefing is right after breakfast." He glanced at his watch. "In a few minutes actually. You were late getting here."

"Had to wash my face," Chris replied. Shinji sipped his juice to hide his grin. The larger man ate quickly and was done by the time the Platoon Sergeant called attention on deck. The Lieutenant walked in and quickly put them at ease.

"Alright!" he began loudly, "as you all probably know by now, D-day has been set. Three days. We hit Klendathu in three days. We are set to be the first regular troops to hit dirt. The only guys who are going to beat us down are recon and they're only there to tell us where to shoot." The chow hall was filled with cheering. The Lieutenant nodded and smiled. "Our job is to destroy everything that has more than two legs. You'll get further details during the night with the hypno-speakers. That is all." They were called to attention again and the Lieutenant left. Izumi let them sit down and took the Lieutenant's place at the front of the chow hall.

"The Lieutenant has faith in you," he growled. "That man is a former recon sergeant and he has faith in you. Do you really want to let him down?"

"No, Sergeant!"

"Good," Izumi growled. "Do what you're ordered, when you're ordered. The civilians make a big to do about legal orders, none of that shit matters. What you are told to do will get the mission done and that is all that matters. Understand?"

"Yes, Sergeant!"

"Good. Break into squads, section leaders see me. Dismissed!" Shinji's squad took over one of the corners of the chow hall to wait for Ford to pass along what the Platoon Sergeant told him. Vigianno took the moment to light a cigarette.

"Blue?"

"Yes Corporal?"

"You stick with Klack," Vigianno ordered. "Do as he does and listen to what he says, copy?"

"Copy Corporal," Shinji replied. PFC Klackiewicz turned and nodded stoically to Shinji.

"First section squad leaders to me!" Ford yelled. Vigianno snuffed out his cigarette and walked over to join the squad leaders from second and third squad to find out what their pre-drop jobs would be.

(:Three Days Later:)

Shinji watched as his armor's heads up display flashed to life, telling him that everything was good to go. He made a few exaggerated movements and went through the standard warm up procedures. He brought up the diagnostic program for the massive automatic plasma chain gun attached to his hip's weapon dock. "All good Blue?" Klack asked.

"All good," Shinji reported as he followed the man to the drop room. The quickly fell into place with the rest of first squad as Izumi moved among them, checking their armor. He came to Shinji and looked him over quickly and efficiently before leaning forward helmet-to-helmet.

"Your heart beat is elevated, but you don't show any other signs of fear," he commented on the private suit-to-suit channel. "Not your first time in combat?"

"Kind of, Sergeant," Shinji replied. Izumi didn't press him about it. The rest of the squads filtered in and were checked as well. The Lieutenant appeared and checked them all just as quickly as the platoon sergeant had before moving to the front of the formation.

"Alright everyone," he began calmly, "here we are again. This is what we sweat and bleed and starve for. I don't need to mention that this is the first major MI deployment in its history and we have been chosen to spearhead it. You now have the world's eyes on you, so don't forget our reputation. Get the job done, over your dead body only if absolutely necessary. Five minutes for the padre." Most of the men fell out, but Shinji didn't. He stayed where he was and just breathed. As speeches went, he had heard better, or at least more hopeful. The Lieutenant seemed to face honesty over Misato's more genteel approach and Shinji liked him better for it.

"Feeling good, Blue?" Shinji looked up and saw Vigianno stenciled on the suit in front of him.

"Absolutely, Corporal." The squad leader leaned forward and pressed his helmet to Shinji. "Klack's on the bounce. Listen to him and you'll be fine." The man pulled back. "Do your thing, Klack."

"This ain't my first rodeo, Corporal," Klack returned.

"Fall in!" Izumi bellowed. The rest of the platoon returned to their places in formation.

"Get them loaded, Sergeant," the Lieutenant ordered.

"Aye, sir," Izumi growled. "Platoon! By sections, port and starboard, prepare for drop."

"Section!" Ford and the second section leader called. "Man your capsules."

"Squad!" Viggiano and the fourth squad leader yelled. "Move!" Shinji climbed into his capsule. Everything quickly went pitch black and Shinji felt the capsule bounce along to make room for the next trooper.

This was always the hardest part for Shinji. The pitch blackness felt like it was suffocating him, like he was buried deep in his own private coffin. He had once compared it to a powered down entry plug. 'At least it doesn't smell like blood.'

(:ii:)

Shinji grinned as he shot through the sky towards the planet below. He had already blown all of his capsule's exterior components and was no waiting for just the right moment to fire off his chutes. It was odd when he considered how he had always been terrified of roller coasters.

Now he was three miles above the dirt and happier than could be. Who would have ever thought that Shinji Ikari was an adrenaline junkie? Certainly not Shinji Ikari. Shinji fired his first chute and quickly ran through the succession until he was out of them and ready to land.

He hit dirt and was immediately looking for his fellow War Dogs. He spotted Klack's beacon and bounced over quickly. He took in the positions of the rest of the platoon at the apex of one of his bounces. They were almost perfectly set up.

"First squad, count off!"

"One."

"Two," Klack announced.

"Three."

"Four.

"Five." The sky suddenly lit up in intense thermal readings that dwarfed Klendathu's own sun.

"What the hell?" somebody whispered. Shinji glanced back at Klack, but the large man held his arms out, palms up in the universal sign of not knowing.

"Six?" Vigianno demanded.

"Six here," the designated trooper announced.

"Seven," Shinji finished. He flipped up his snoopers and took in how the brilliant ball of light easily illuminated the planet's alien landscape.

"Alright people!" Izumi's voice bellowed. "Quit skylarking! Prepare to move out!" Shinji flipped his snoopers back down. The whole point of this action was to assault a massive artificial structure that military intelligence had decided was the bug's congress building.

"Blue, stay with Klack on the bounce, copy?"

"Copy Corporal," Shinji replied.

"Platoon, by odds and evens, prepare to advance!" The command quickly filtered down. "Even numbers, advance!" Shinji and Klack burst into the air and Shinji caught his first sight of the distant structure. This did not look good.

(:ii:)

"Stand fast!" Shinji cursed as the ground under him began to buck. He bounced away just as the surface caved into a subterranean cave and bugs came pouring out. Shinji didn't need Klack's shouted order, he immediately hosed them all down with his hand flamer.

"Underground," Klack growled as he lobbed a bomb into the tunnel. "Score one for military intelligence."

"Yeah," Shinji agreed. The attack had been advancing with few problems, a sure sign of an ambush if ever there was one. Everybody had known that the bugs were mostly a subterranean species, but nobody had even considered the possibility that they would be able to use their tunnels to pop up out of nowhere.

"Bug hole in sector bravo," Klack reported. "Hole's already closed."

"Were they workers or warriors?" Vigianno demanded.

"Can't tell," Klack responded as he kicked one of the burned husks lightly, sending the slain beast rolling onto its back. "Blue burned them to ash."

"Copy that," Vigianno stated. "First squad, orders are to mill around and blow shit up. The attack has stalled. The rest of the formation can't keep up with us." Shinji glanced at Klack.

"You heard the man," the older trooper stated. "Let's mill." He bounced away, leaving two small bombs in his wake. Shinji quickly followed after him, setting his own Y-rack to dispense bombs automatically as more bugs boiled out of the ground.

"Klack!"

"Klack here. Go ahead."

"Vigianno is down," the new voice stated. Shinji thought he recognized it as his assistant squad leader, a Lance Corporal named Crowley. "He's got a launcher. The Lieutenant wants those nukes."

"Recovery?" Klack asked, even as they changed direction.

"He's dead. Leave it."

"Copy. . .shit, Blue!" Shinji grunted as the other man slammed into him mid bounce and sent him tumbling to the ground. Klack landed hard and the ground gave way from under him, sending him and the two bombs his suit had dispensed into the dark abyss below. Shinji cursed himself, but he was already in the air, bouncing away from his own bombs. He didn't land until the bombs had already gone off.

"Blue!"

"Here," Shinji stated.

"It's Izumi," the platoon sergeant stated. "Klack just flat lined, what the hell happened?"

"Went in a bug hole," Shinji reported, his training automatically cut off any extraneous emotions and thoughts.

"Fuck," Izumi growled. "Get the nuke, Blue."

"On my way Sergeant," Shinji reported as he turned and bounced towards the downed squad leader's beacon, never even noticing how Izumi had called him instead of Crowley. He found Vigianno at the bottom of a bug hole. Shinji flamed the bugs without even thinking and dropped into the hole. He quickly grabbed the rocket launcher and the magazine of spare rockets that had been clipped to Vigianno's back.

He absently noticed that the squad leader's armor was untouched. Apparently he had just fallen and broken his neck, a quick and easy way to buy the farm, unlike what had happened to Klack. Those bombs would have torn him apart and even if they hadn't they would have slammed him around something fierce, maybe even knocked all his sensors out. He could still be alive! Bugs came roaring down the tunnel suddenly and Shinji flamed them, cursing himself for being distracted. He bounced out of the hole with the launcher in his hands.

"I've got it Sergeant."

"Good!" Izumi roared. "Fall back! Give me a perimeter a click wide!" Shinji frowned. In mobile infantry terms, that would put them shoulder to shoulder. Something was very wrong.

(:ii:)

"Blue! Nuke 'em!"

"Copy that," Shinji growled, releasing his plasma chain gun for its lanyard to hold and snatched the rocket launcher attacked to his back. He brought it down over his shoulder and pulled one trigger. He sighted the target and pulled the second. The brilliant flash made him look away.

"Boat coming in people!" Izumi snapped. "Prepare to fall back." A massive hole opened up not too far away. Shinji sighted it and turned the launcher skywards before pulling the second trigger. The rocket burst from its confines and burned into the sky before angling sharply downwards and going into the hole perfectly. Shinji grinned, he had always had a knack for launchers back in training.

"Bugs in the perimeter!" Shinji pivoted even as he dumped the launcher's empty two-round magazine and reloaded it. The ship had indeed touched down and a new hole had opened up. Several troopers had surrounded it and were spraying the opening with plasma fire, killing everything that moved.

"Blue, get in the boat!" Ford bellowed. Shinji was bouncing towards the boat before he even wondered why Ford had singled him out. His feet hit ground and suddenly he was sinking. Shinji cursed as he was dumped into an underground tunnel. He lit the flamer before he was even on the ground. Everything around him flared up brilliantly even as he tried to stand. Something was pinning him down. With a final burst of energy, Shinji pulled free and bounced out of the hole. He was in the boat in a heart beat and snatched up his chain gun, the launched having been lost in the hole. He sprayed fire as the rest of the platoon fell back in a much more orderly fashion, but there were so few.

"Last man!" Ford snapped as he dragged Shinji away from the doorway and slammed the panel to shut the entry point. "God damn Blue."

"What?" Shinji asked, his head was spinning and his left arm throbbed where it had been pinned.

"You've got an arm off," Ford stated. Shinji stared at the twisted mass of metal where his arm had been.

"Oh." Everything suddenly went quite black.

-End

(:ii:)

-That's three in the bag. One more and I can start with new chapters!


	4. Chapter Four

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Four:

Shinji jerked awake and looked around his surroundings wildly. "Relax." Shinji turned and saw Chris staring down at him. "Just breathe Blue."

"Are we back on the ship?"

"Yeah," Chris replied. Shinji frowned as he noted his friend's expression. He was trying to be calm, but there was no hiding the sadness in his eyes. Shinji turned away and stared at the empty sleeve pinned to his chest.

"How bad did we get hit?"

"Real bad," Chris stated. "Our chain of command is shot. Sergeant Ford is the CO and Sergeant Rotuno is the platoon sergeant."

"How many did we loose?"

"Twenty men," Chris stated. "There's talk that the platoon is being disbanded and distributed amongst the rest of the Regiment." Shinji's eyes widened. He hadn't been with these men long, but they were his family damn it! "Sarge wanted to talk to you when you woke up. Do you feel up to it?"

"Yeah." Shinji sat up slowly, feeling surprisingly decent. "It doesn't bother me."

"What?"

"My arm," Shinji replied.

"You're so full of drugs that I doubt you'd notice the loss of everything below the waist." Chris slung Shinji's remaining arm over his shoulder and helped him to his feet. Shinji managed a step and frowned at how off-balanced he felt. Chris led the way out of the infirmary and down the hall towards the armory. "Sergeant said that he was happier in the armory."

"Doesn't surprise me," Shinji commented. Chris rasped loudly on the hatch.

"Come in!" Chris opened the door and they both stepped in. Ford looked up from the armor he was repairing and his eyes widened. "Blue!"

"Sarge," Shinji returned. The older man's face lit up in a broad grin as he took a long draw on his cigar.

"Well God damned," Ford grunted. He turned back to the armor. "How much has Aquil told you?"

"He told me that we might be disbanded," Shinji stated.

"We aren't being disbanded," Ford stated. "Word came down that only units with more than half their respective numbers gone are being disbanded. We're close, but we're safe." Shinji felt a massive weight lift off his shoulders and saw Chris stand up a little straighter.

"What exactly happened?"

"The Y-Pres and Valley Forge collided," Ford stated. "We hit dirt with about half the numbers we were supposed to have. From there everything just got worse." He puffed on his cigar for a while. "Me and Rotuno are shuffling our remaining members so we won't have to bring aboard NCOs and leaders from outside of the unit." He hesitated. "Blue. You're an orphan. Your entire squad was wiped out, that's why I ordered you onboard myself."

"I see." Shinji felt like he had been punched in the gut. Vigianno, Klack, Crowley, and the rest. He hadn't gotten to know them well, but they were all decent men and fellow troopers.

"I'm bringing fourth squad's assistant squad leader over as your squad leader and I'm promoting a trooper from second to be the assistant. You're going to be the senior private. Oh, you're both PFCs now, comprende?"

"Comprendo," Chris replied. Shinji nodded. Ford leaned back and blew smoke at the ceiling.

"I won't shit you two. This isn't going to be easy," he stated. "We're in a mess that none of us have ever been through." He glanced at Shinji. "I need to speak with you Blue." He eyed Chris warily. "Alone." Shinji glanced at Chris and the man walked out. "Blue, you know, loosing an arm is a respectable way to end up flying a desk."

"I don't want to be a desk jockey!" Shinji protested. "I'm M.I."

"Those grunts are still M.I." Ford growled. "They're just doing their part in a different way."

"I want to fight," Shinji stated. Ford stared at him and puffed his cigar a few more times.

"Good," he stated finally. "I didn't want to loose you." He grinned brightly. "Don't worry about a thing Blue! Your next arm will have a Federation guarantee!" He paused for a moment. "You are right handed, right?"

"Yes Sergeant."

"Great!" Ford replied. He made a few obscene hand movements. "I'd be worried about accidents with my toy." Shinji sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"All due respect Sarge, don't be a dick." Ford nearly fell out of his chair laughing and Shinji smirked as he dropped his lit cigar in his lap. The platoon's new commanding officer leapt to his feet and sent his cigar flying into the armor he had been working on. Ford stared at it and shrugged.

"Oh well."

"Oh well?" Shinji repeated.

"Take a closer look." Shinji walked around the suit of armor and stared at torn metal at its arm.

"This is mine?"

"Yeah," Ford grunted as he pulled his cigar out. "I'm chocking it up as beyond my capability. We'll drop it off at Sanctuary and they'll fix it."

"Why can't we just replace the arm?" Shinji asked.

"Too many connections for the pressure sensors," Ford stated. "The R&D guys decided that us apes are too stupid to fix it and I could not be happier. You busy?"

"No."

"Good," Ford replied. "Give me a hand here. We've got a lot to get done."

"Joy."

"Great, ain't it?" Ford asked. "You just cost the tax payers a couple million."

"Yeah."

"Who's the dick now, Blue?"

(:ii:)

Ford watched as his men formed up. He and Rotuno had agreed to just have them fall into a single formation. It would be too painful for everyone involved. "Alright, listen up!" All eyes turned on him. "I just got word, consider yourself officially on leave for the next week." The cheer almost sounded like there was a full platoon in place. "Technically, this isn't really leave though. We're just here to pick up a few suits and recuperate enough for when we get two more weeks of leave on Earth." The cheer almost doubled.

"That's right," Rotuno stated, "everybody party, that's an order."

"There's only one thing," Ford continued. "Me and Sergeant Rotuno don't post bail. If you get yourself thrown in the slammer, you're there until we leave. I don't care if you get arrested the moment we hit dirt, it's your own damned fault!" There were a few chuckles. The War Dogs were known to party with as much enthusiasm as they fought. "Give them the schedule."

"Alright! Pay attention!" Rotuno snapped. "We will hit dirt at ten! Get all your medical needs and whatnot out of the way. At fourteen hundred meet at the Great Hall for promotions and awards. Wear full dress, be on time, and be sober. I will drag every single one of you that fucks that up behind the hall and beat the shit out of you! The regimental commander will be there. God help you if you make a fool of yourself."

"Your sergeants have spoken!" Ford announced. "Get your sorry asses on the shuttles." The men fell out and Ford moseyed over to his assistant. "Like I was saying, good thing it was your right hand."

"Don't want to hear it Sarge," Blue stated.

"I remember a kid I went to boot camp with," Ford stated. "Guy was a rock, dumb as can be. The first time he tried to salute with a fake hand. . ."

"You wanna Waltz Matilda?"

"Took his head clean off," Ford stated with relish. He sat back and tried to figure out if he could take his assistant in a fight. It wasn't fare. Those damned Siberian boots were huge!

(:ii:)

"There we go son," Shinji stared down at his arm with the same blank acceptance that he had stared at his stump. It was an ugly mass of fluted steel exoskeleton, hydraulic hoses, and pistons. The fingers clenched into a fist and his wrist rotated. "Your first time in combat?"

"Yes sir," Shinji replied.

"A shame," the doctor stated mostly to himself. "Check the connection, Naru."

"Yes, Doctor." The young nurse moved around Shinji and inspected the cuff attaching the arm to what was left of his humerus.

"Aren't there less noticeable prosthetics?" Shinji asked. He felt so distant from what was happening that he wondered what would happen when he came back to himself.

"There are," the doctor stated. "Those are too fragile though. This one is combat ready. Sadly, the Federation health plan doesn't include biological prosthetics on a price basis."

"I see."

"I don't know why you'd request to keep fighting," the Doctor commented as he manipulated Shinji's arm and checked its limited sensitivity.

"It's an MI thing," Shinji replied. That was true enough; he'd never expect a Navy man to understand.

"It all checks out," Naru reported.

"Good," the Doctor stated. "Now, this arm is pretty simple. Your O&A sergeant should be able to fix it if anything breaks." Shinji frowned as he thought back to Ford's preferred method of hitting things until they worked.

"It's sturdy, right?"

"Of course," the Doctor replied. "Like I'm going to give an ape something he break over his own head." Shinji's eye twitched and he considered the ribbons pinned to the man's lab coat. There were quite a few and not a single combat award among them. "Relax son, I'm just kidding."

"Yes sir."

"Any questions?" Shinji glanced around, already feeling ridiculous for what he was about to ask.

"Well, sir, have you ever heard of an MI scalping himself with a robot arm while trying to salute?" The doctor grinned.

(:ii:)

"That's it?" Ford asked as he lit his cigar.

"This is it," Shinji replied. "The doctor said that you should be able to fix it." Ford stared at it for a long moment.

"You kept the warranty, right?"

"Are you kidding Sarge?" Shinji asked. "With the way you normally fix things, I tried to get six more."

"Dick." Shinji smirked and pushed the sleeve of his jacket down over his new arm. "Hey, Blue, a bunch of us are going drinking after this. Do you want to come?" Shinji frowned. He had never been one for drinking, or parties for that matter, a fact that had driven Misato insane. Apparently, she had never heard of a minor turning down alcohol.

"Sounds good to me Sarge."

"Excellent!"

(:ii:)

Shinji leaned against the bar and closed his eyes as everything swam a little. "You alright Blue?"

"I'm good Sarge, I mean, sir." Shinji looked down at the medals on his chest. "You put me in for the Terran Valor medal." The medal itself was the second highest medal for courage in combat, just under the Terran Medal of Honor.

"I suggested it," Ford stated. "The regimental commander approved it."

"I didn't do anything special," Shinji protested.

"You stood in the doorway and provided cover fire with one arm ripped off," Ford stated. "Obviously, the General thought that was good enough."

"I didn't even know my arm was gone," Shinji stated as he sipped his beer again. "I didn't do anything. What about the guys who did something, the guys like Klack? I probably would be dead if it weren't for Klack and he didn't get the TVM."

"Look Blue," Ford began, "I'm about to tell you the most important acronym in all the military, okay?"

"Yes Sarge. . .sir."

"FIDO," Ford stated simply. "Fuck it, drive on. No matter what happens, just keep going."

"You're telling me that I shouldn't care?" Shinji asked.

"Of course you should care," Ford replied, "you wouldn't be human if you didn't care and these guys are family. They're grunts, just like you. There's no way you can't care, but if you dwell on it, it'll just drive you crazy."

"Alright." Shinji finished his beer and stared down at the medals pinned to his chest. He had gotten four and Klack had only gotten one. It just didn't seem fair.

"Private Ikari?" Shinji turned and stared at the somewhat bleary woman before him. He recognized her as the nurse from the hospital.

"Miss Naru, right?"

"That's right," the nurse replied with a smile. "Celebrating something?"

"Being alive," Shinji replied. "Still having a few of my friends left."

"I see," Naru replied. Shinji gestured for another beer and reached into his pocket for his wallet.

"My treat," Naru stated, resting her hand on his arm.

"Thanks."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. New chapters from now on! Mwahahahahahahaha! cough hack I really gotta cut back on the smokes.


	5. Chapter Five

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Five:

Shinji jerked awake and looked around his surroundings. It was too dark for him to make out much. "Quit squirming Blue." Shinji froze and turned to stare at the woman lying next to him.

"Oh." Shinji slipped out of the bed and snatched up his clothes. He pulled on his trousers and button down shirt, but kept his jacket bundled to keep his medals from making noise. He grabbed his shoes and began creeping towards the door.

"You're up." Shinji froze and turned to see Naru sitting up in her bed, knuckling the sleep out of her eyes.

"Uh, yeah."

"Okay," Naru replied. "What are you doing?" Shinji frowned. What was he going to say? "The dorm mother will catch you if you leave that way. You have to go out the window. I thought you knew."

"Nope."

"Oh." Naru stretched and lay back down. "I just figured you knew because you got up on time."

"On time?"

"You have to get out before four or the dorm mother will catch you," Naru replied.

"Oh." Shinji pulled on his shoes and pushed the window open.

"And Blue?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna have dinner tonight?"

"Sure." Shinji climbed out and dropped to the ground from the second floor as quietly as he could. A second later a man dropped down a few feet away.

"Morning," the man offered.

"Morning," Shinji returned. Another man landed with a thud and a curse.

"Damn it trooper, didn't anybody ever tell you not to date a girl on the third floor?"

"She was worth it," the man groaned.

"Corporal Kurosaki?" Shinji asked, recognizing the voice of one of his few fellow Japanese troopers and now his squad leader.

"Hey Blue," the man grunted. "I think I fractured my ankle."

"She really better have been worth it," the other man commented as he moved to check Kurosaki's ankle. The silver bars on his collar caught the light and glittered brightly.

"Hey you three!" a voice called as a flight flickered on them.

"Bolt!" the captain cried. Shinji slung Kurosaki over his shoulder and followed his superior officer as they ran like hell.

(:ii:)

Shinji staggered into the cafeteria and dropped his jacket and garrison cover onto one of the chairs before moving into the buffet line. "Well look what the cat dragged in." Shinji turned and saw his former section leader and current platoon commander dressed in PT gear already holding a plate.

"Corporal Kurosaki is in the hospital."

"How'd that happened?" Ford asked.

"Third floor," Shinji stated.

"Never date a girl on the third floor," Ford grumbled in exasperation.

"He said she was worth it," Shinji stated as he began shoveling everything he could fit onto his plate and than began piling more on top. The rigors of Siberia had taught him the beauty of a high-calorie western breakfast.

"So, which floor did you end up on with that cute little brunette?"

"Second." Ford grinned and followed Shinji to his seat before sitting across from him.

"We're taking you and Aquil out for tattoos," the former NCO stated.

"Me and Chris?" Shinji asked. Ford's grin slipped a little.

"You're the only new guys left," he stated. He pulled up the sleeve of his T-shirt to reveal a snarling dog on his upper left arm. "We're all getting ours updated."

"Updated?" Shinji asked. Ford reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a slip of paper. On it was a similar dog, but the worlds 'First On' and 'Last Off' had been written in a circle around it. "What's up with that?"

"You didn't hear?" Ford asked. "We were first down on Klendathu, just like the plan said, but we ended up being the last off. The brass lost track of us and left us there. That's why we were surrounded at the end."

"Oh." Shinji looked down at his plate and began eating. "What happens when we're done here?"

"After leave?" Ford asked. "We're heading to Terra to pick up our new guys. After that, stand by."

"Copy that sir." Shinji picked up his tray and made his way back to the buffet line. He was so intent on food that his normally razor sharp senses missed the man walking towards him.

"Shinji?" Shinji nearly dropped his plate to attack the other man who had surprised him. Instead he managed to turn, just slowly enough not to send his food flying, to see a short bespectacled man in front of him. "Holy shit, it is you."

"Kensuke?" Shinji asked.

"I like the hair," Kensuke Aida replied.

"Don't be a dick," Shinji stated automatically. His eyes took in the ranks pinned to his friend's collar. "Sir," he added.

(:ii:)

Kensuke watched as Shinji shoveled his food down his throat. He had enough experience with MI to know that it was useless to talk to them while they ate. Instead, Kensuke took in the changes in his friend. Shinji had gained a couple of inches of height in high school, but no extra weight. He had definitely been scrawny, but the MI had added about a hundred pounds of muscle. Then, there was the hair. Shinji finished his food quickly and lit a thin, brown cigar. "Lieutenant JG, eh?"

"I'm in line for a promotion pretty soon," Kensuke replied. "What about you?" Shinji grabbed a bundled jacket and opened it. Kensuke's eyes read the medals instead of the rank sewn on the sleeves. "Holy shit."

"Huh?" Shinji glanced at his uniform himself. "Oh." Kensuke counted four medals and recognized them all. They were the Terran Valor medal, the Combat Action medal for serving in combat, a freebie for MI really, the Terran Defense Service medal for serving during a war, another freedie, and the Operation Bughouse campaign medal. All under the silver winged skull of the MI's drop qualification badge.

"You were on Klendathu?"

"Yup," Shinji replied, holding up his left hand. Kensuke stared at the metallic prosthetic poking out from his sleeve.

"How much?"

"Mid-humerus," Shinji replied. "So, you're here working R&D?"

"Kind of," Kensuke replied. "I work for ONI."

"Spook," Shinji growled. "You know, you guys made a couple of mistakes back on Klendathu." Kensuke sighed.

"We went on the best information we had," he stated. "We wanted to collect more, but we ran out of time."

"Come again?"

"We explained that we didn't have enough information to reliably predict the arachnid's response to an attack," Kensuke stated, "but we were told that we had to go. The civilians wanted an attack and they got one. No one could have predicted the outcome."

"Try asking a grunt," Shinji returned. Kensuke nodded his understand. Boots on the ground tended to know things that satellites would never find out.

"You know, everyone is looking for you."

"Looking?" Shinji repeated, "an in, still looking? It's been more than a year."

"You should know better than anyone that a disappearance is the worst kind of break up," Kensuke countered. "They want to know what happened to you." Shinji shrugged and puffed away on his cigar. "When did you start smoking?"

"High stress occupation," Shinji replied with a shrug. "How do you know about everyone looking for me?"

"Misato contacted me as soon as you hung up on her," Kensuke replied.

"An ONI officer could probably have found me if they wanted," Shinji commented, "even a new one."

"I figured, you'd talk when you were ready," Kensuke stated. "I did look into where you were. I nearly had a heart attack when I found out you picked infantry. Touji tried for the MI too, but was rejected because of his prosthetics. He's in the Navy now."

"No kidding?" Shinji asked.

"Nope. He's a gunner. Asuka is a pilot candidate too."

"Oh."

"I really can't believe you went Infantry."

"That was kind of the point," Shinji returned. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention finding me to anyone."

"It's your business," Kensuke replied. "I'm just here looking for a couple of Recon grunts."

"What does ONI want with our Recon?"

"They work with us," Kensuke explained. "It's an Intel-gathering deal." Shinji nodded and puffed away for a few minutes in silence.

"I gotta go."

"That's fine," Kensuke replied. "I'll drop you a line some time."

"That'd be great." Shinji lurched to his feet and pulled his jacket on before buttoning it closed. "See you around."

"Yeah," Kensuke agreed. "And Shinji?"

"Yes?"

"You should get in touch with everyone," Kensuke stated. "They want to know that you're okay."

"In time," Shinji replied. "I'll do it when I'm ready." Kensuke nodded his understanding.

"Good luck."

(:ii:)

"Who's the squid?" Shinji glanced to his left as he exited the chow hall and saw Ford waiting for him.

"An old friend," he returned. The older man nodded. "You need something sir?"

"Your squad needs a scout," Ford replied. "I'd bring in someone with more experience to do it, but you have the highest armor aptitude scores in the platoon." Shinji frowned and took a drag on his cigar. Being a scout was a shit job, no two ways about it. They were usually way out in front of the unit in the most lightly armored Marauder suits yet produced.

Despite that, Shinji felt something twisting deep in his gut. That sounded exciting.

"I'll do it."

"You know about the fatality rates among scouts, right?"

"I know, sir," Shinji returned.

"Alright," Ford stated. "It's normally a lance coolie's job, but I can't promote you so soon. Tell you what, do five drops as a scout and the rate is yours."

"Deal."

"Good!" Ford cheered. "Now go change. We have work to do."

"I'm on leave!" Shinji protested.

"Did I say work?" Ford asked. "I meant to say that we have a dozen new chain guns and assorted other toys that need to be zeroed. Sound better?"

"Much sir."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Oh my God! It's a sign of the apocalypse! Infantry has been updated. Holy shit! You guys just kept riding me. Please note, the rest of the chapters have been rewritten.

Now I know this isn't much to show for a few years hiatus, but I can at least promise the next chapter won't take as long. Actually, I wasn't even going to post this till I leave, but I didn't have anything else.


	6. Chapter Six

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Six:

"There it is," Chris stated.

"Yeah," Shinji agreed as he stared at the blue marble in the view port.

"There you are Blue!" Shinji spun to see Ford walking towards him.

"Come on sir, I already had to prep all those damn suits by myself," Shinji complained. "Get someone else to do it."

"Even if I was going to ask you to go to a party?" Ford asked.

"I partied enough on Sanctuary," Shinji groaned. "I'm going to relax. Besides, isn't asking me out fraternization?"

"Very funny," Ford stated. "Speaking of which, are you and that nurse an item?"

"No sir. No real point, you know? Although, we have been writing back and forth."

"Okay," Ford replied. "You're still coming to the party though. It's a big thank you from one of the major defense contractors. The brass says I need to come and I say our little TVM winner needs to come."

"If I end up giving a speech, I'm going to give you a set of lumps, commission or not."

"No speech, just shut up and look pretty."

"If you keep your mouth shut, everyone will stare at your uniform and not your ugly face," Chris pointed out helpfully.

"You're coming too," Shinji stated.

"Wait, what? I don't want to go to some boring ass formal thing!" Chris announced.

"I'm a scout and the O&A assistant, that means I'm a higher billet than you," Shinji stated.

"That's abuse of power, sir!" Chris protested. "He's only a PFC!"

"A PFC with a lot more responsibilities than you," Ford pointed out. "Should have kept your mouth shut."

"I haven't learned to yet sir," Chris replied. "I really, really do though."

"So, who's the contractor, sir?"

"Something called NERV," Ford stated. "They're the guys who were supposed to stop the Third Impact and fucked the pooch. After that they switched to a civilian company handling advanced military contracts."

"Oh," Shinji stated blankly. "Well, fuck."

(:ii:)

"Come on Blue, stop looking like you don't want to be here."

"I don't want to be here sir," Shinji stated as he tugged at his collar.

"Is there going to be booze?" Rotuno asked.

"How about skirts?" Chris added.

"Should be plenty of both," Ford answered. Shinji just stared out the window of the hover car. "Bet he'd rather be out getting more tattoos."

"I don't have that many," Shinji protested.

"Not compared to me and Rotuno. . .yet," Ford retorted.

"Fact still stands," Rotuno added, "you got six tattoos in a week. Big ones. That's got to be a record."

"Had some money to blow through Sarge," Shinji stated, touching his real forearm self consciously. Nobody had mentioned how addicting those damn things were. The hover car slowed and settled down gently.

"Talk to you Blue?" Shinji followed Ford as the older man led him a little aside. "You're from Tokyo-3, right?"

"Yes sir," Shinji answered.

"I have partial access to your record now," Ford stated. "It's very, very classified. You were doing something with NERV, right?"

"Yes sir," Shinji admitted. "I can't say any more than that."

"Alright," Ford replied. "I expect you to hook us up in there." Shinji sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, frowning as he saw the metal claw poking out of his sleeve. He absently reached into his pocket and pulled out his dress gloves. Ford led them back to the other two grunts. "Well boys, let's party!"

"I would be if I hadn't gotten dragged here," Chris grumbled.

"Stop your bitching and have fun trooper, that's an order."

"It'd have to be."

(:ii:)

"See? This isn't so bad."

"I suppose sir," Shinji replied as he looked around the formal banquet. He spotted a few people who looked familiar, but no one he knew by name. "I'm getting a drink. I'll be right back." He walked to the bar and got about half way before someone noticed him.

"Shinji Ikari?" Shinji turned and saw a cute brunette staring up at him. Shit. What was her name?

"Miss Ibuki?"

"It is you!" Shinji mentally patted himself on the back for his correct guess as the woman hugged him. "I can't believe it. Have you seen Doctor Akagi yet?"

"No," Shinji replied.

"She'd be thrilled to see you," Maya stated. She looked around. "There she is. Come on."

"Sure thing," Shinji replied as the slight woman grabbed his hand and led him away from the rest of the troopers.

(:ii:)

Chris watched as his best friend was dragged away from the bar. "How the hell does he do that? I mean, he just walks in and women come to him. How?"

"That's a good question," Ford stated. The brunette led Shinji up to a tall blond who seemed quite happy to see him as well. "Oh. Now that is just unfair." The blond led them to the bar and then out of the hall through a door in the back.

"Playboy," Rotuno commented. "I don't think he'll be making it back to the hover car tonight."

"I think someone needs to make a speech tonight," Ford growled.

"Blue doesn't do speeches sir," Chris stated. "And I'd probably have to bet on Blue when he decides you need lumps."

"He may be big, but I'm. . ."

"Clumsy," Rotuno interrupted.

"True, but I was going to say experienced," Ford stated. He glanced at Chris. "Didn't I tell you not to belittle me in front of the troopers?"

"Didn't I say don't give me a chance?" Rotuno asked.

(:ii:)

"So this is where you disappeared to, is it?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yes," Shinji answered. "It seemed like the least obvious place to go." Ritsuko and Maya laughed at that. "I don't suppose that Misato is around here, is she?"

"No," Ritsuko replied. "She quit a while ago and disappeared herself. I think she went looking for you." Shinji stared at the blond. That figured. When he was finally ready to talk to the woman, she disappeared. Oh the irony.

"Great and you have no idea where she is?"

"No," Ritsuko replied. "She left shortly after Asuka signed up with the Navy. She didn't bother to tell us where she was going."

"Huh." Shinji took out one of his cigars and lit it.

"You always hated fighting." Shinji glanced at the brunette, but she was staring off into space slightly. "Why did you enlist, Shinji?" Shinji leaned back in his seat and puffed at his cigar for a moment. That was a good question. Was it out of spite for his roommates? Perhaps, at least at first it might have been, but what about now?

"I'm not sure," he answered finally. "Reasons change."

"Was it worth it?" Maya pressed.

"Yes." That was the truth. "Everything I've given so far has been worth it."

"That's good." Maya sipped her drink.

"What brought that around?" Shinji asked.

"It destroyed Misato when you left," Maya stated. "I've never seen her in such bad shape. Asuka was too; at least, in her own way." Shinji felt a stab of guilt at that, but he shook it off quickly. He had had a lot of practice doing that lately.

"It had to be done," he stated after a moment more of reflection.

"Why?"

"Because I needed to make something of myself," Shinji stated firmly. "I'm done with people deciding everything for me."

"You're in the military now," Ritsuko commented with a dry chuckle. "You'll never stop being told what to do."

"Different things and you know it," Shinji countered. "At least in the MI there's a bond. These guys are my family. For once in my life, I actually feel comfortable with being who I am."

"Good for you," Ritsuko stated. "Do you regret any of it?" Shinji's left arm throbbed and he resisted the urge to rub at the phantom pain. It wasn't so much regret for his arm, but for living when others should have.

"I have a few regrets." He finally rubbed his arm, the gesture chasing away the pain for some reason. "But that's just part of being human."

"You've changed a lot Shinji," the blond commented.

"Everybody does."

(:ii:)

"I'm back." Chris glanced up and saw Shinji strolling towards them.

"We all thought you'd found a place to shack up for the night," Ford commented as he sipped his drink.

"The blonde's a little old, but that brunette. . ." Shinji trailed off and they all began to laugh. "Where's Sarge?"

"He's around here somewhere flirting with some cute little thing," Ford answered.

"Can we leave yet sir?" Ford eyed the younger trooper.

"Why would you want to leave?" he asked suspiciously. "Got yet another girl waiting for you somewhere around here?"

"No sir, I just have an early flight tomorrow." Now Chris's interest was piqued as well.

"Where you heading Blue?"

"Down to Australia," Shinji answered.

"What's in Australia?" Ford pressed. Shinji looked faintly uncomfortable.

"There's just something I've got to do there sir," he stated. "I need another drink." Chris watched as he wondered over towards the bar.

"What do you think sir?"

"Klack."

"What?"

"Klack," Ford repeated. "PFC Klackiewicz, the guy Blue was buddied up with on Big K. He was from Australia and I think he has a sister."

"Oh." Chris sipped his drink. "He's really hung up on that sir."

"I know," Ford replied. "I think I might send him for a chat with the ship's shrink. It isn't affecting his work, so I can't make it an order really, but I can make a suggestion. If you don't deal with these kinds of things the right way, they'll just eat you up inside. I already gave him my thoughts on it, but it looks like he can't just keep going."

"Does that happen a lot sir?"

"Yeah," Ford grunted. "Dying is what soldiers do. It's no surprise when we buy the farm, but it's still hard on those left behind. We're family. It's worse when someone dies to save you, especially when you think you don't have anything to loose like Blue does. Knowing that Klack left behind family who's grieving right now must be killing him. Hopefully, whatever he does tomorrow helps put him at rest."

"Do you think I should go with him sir?"

"No. There are just some things a guy needs to do by himself."

(:The Next Day:)

Shinji stared blankly at the headstone in front of him. It was a simply affair really, one of hundreds of identical graves in Australia's military cemetery. Klack had been buried with full honors, a soldier who had died in war, not a committed geriatric. The flowers leaning up against the grave looked fresh, only a day or two old. "Can I help you?" Shinji turned and noted the dark-haired woman standing a few feet away with a bouquet in her hands. She looked so young.

"Melissa Klackiewicz?"

"Yes," the woman stated with a smile as she stepped forward and replaced the older flowers. "Did you know my brother?" Shinji wasn't in uniform, having decided that she had seen far too many uniforms lately, but he still had the appearance of a MI grunt.

"I'm the reason he's dead." She froze and stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"Oh," she managed. "Oh."

"Yeah," Shinji agreed, at a loss for words as well.

"I suppose we should talk," she offered. "I don't live very far away; it's only about ten minutes by foot."

"I'd like that," Shinji answered. She smiled faintly and turned to lead the way. Shinji walked beside her, unconsciously moving to her left side to keep his prosthetic out of view.

"Is that for my brother?"

"What?"

"That," Melissa said, pointing to one of the tattoos on his forearms. It was a very retro dagger with a long banner declaring 'REVENGE' winding around it on the outside on his forearm.

"Him among others," Shinji admitted. "A lot of others."

"I see."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Oh my God! I live! No; seriously guys, sorry about the apparent miscommunication. I've been in Ft. Lee for what feels like forever. I could have sworn that I mentioned that. Well, I'm back now for a while.

Thanks for showing some love with the "What the fuck, Mister C?" e-mails. Although, it was rather intimidating to come home and find two hundred some e-mails awaiting me.


	7. Chapter Seven

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Seven:

Shinji looked around the small, but comfortable, living room of the Klack family. "How long did you know him?" Melissa asked as she handed him a cup of coffee.

"Not very long actually," Shinji explained. "I was in his squad. We were buddied up so he could keep an eye on me. A lot of guys with that job let it go to their head a little, but he was really decent to me.

"How did he die?" Melissa asked as she sat down at well. Shinji swallowed dryly and sipped his coffee.

"We were moving to recover a rocket launcher from our squad leader after he bough the farm," Shinji stated finally. "We were in mid-bounce. Klack saw something in the dirt below us, something that told him it was a covered bug hole. I didn't notice it, wouldn't have noticed it until it was too late. He hit me in mid-air, knocking me aside and landing on the bug hole. The ground gave way and he went inside."

"I see," Melissa croaked. Shinji could see tears bright in her eyes. "Did he suffer?"

"No," Shinji stated, his voice was cracking slightly too. Had anyone ever been so close to him? So close that they would give their life without a second thought? "I should have died. I don't have a God damned thing to live for. He should be here, with you." He felt something hot and wet role down his face. To his shock, Melissa moved next to him and wrapped an arm around him. He had come all this way and she was comforting him? He was a veteran combat infantryman and a civilian woman not even out of high school was comforting him? Shinji reached into his pocket and dug out a box. "I want you to have this."

"What is it?" Melissa asked, leaning back and taking the box. She opened it and stared at its contents.

"It's the Terran Valor Medal," Shinji stated. "Klack should have gotten it, not me." Melissa stared down at it silently for a moment before pushing it back into his hands.

"I can't wear it," she stated. "Why don't you wear it for him?"

"I. . ."

"I mean it," Melissa interrupted. Shinji chuckled and stuck the box back in his pocket.

"Alright." Shinji looked around the house. "Do you have any family left?"

"No," Melissa replied. "Don't worry everything's fine here. I have Matt's life insurance policy."

"It's a lot of money," Shinji admitted, "but it won't last forever."

"I know," Melissa stated. "I enlisted with the Navy. I'm leaving right after I graduate in a few years." Shinji stared at the tiny girl next to him. He had looked up Klack's family to find her and had learned quite a bit. Her mother died in the Third Impact. Her father was a Navy test pilot who had died on one of the first deep space explorations. With what the military had done to her father and her brother, she had still enlisted.

"You got guts," Shinji commented. "Too bad you're a lady; you'd make a hell of a grunt." Melissa grinned brightly.

"Matt used to tell me that," she stated. Shinji grabbed the notepad he had taken to carrying out of his pocket and quickly scribbled down his address aboard ship.

"If you have any problems, anything at all, write me, okay?"

"Sure," Melissa replied as she took the paper.

"Even if you just need someone to talk to, I'm here," Shinji stated. Melissa laughed openly at that.

"Does that mean I can write you about all the girly stuff we girls talk about?" she teased.

"Maybe not that." She laughed again and Shinji had to join in. It felt good to laugh again. It made him think that maybe, just maybe, he did have a future.

(:ii:)

Shinji pushed the door to his room open and staggered inside. "Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Shinji glanced up and saw Chris leaning against the wall with a magazine in his hands. "You're looking happy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shinji demanded.

"Nothing!" Chris replied quickly as he held up his hands in surrender. "You met with Klack's sister, right?"

"Yeah." Chris nodded and turned back to his magazine. Sometimes, friends just knew when to drop it. "The Boss swung by. He was trying to find you for something."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Hadn't seen you in a while," Chris stated from behind his magazine. "You back to being you?" Shinji thought about that as he sprawled on his back.

"No,' he replied after a moment, "but I'm a lot better than before."

"Good," Chris grunted. "You were really starting to depress the fuck out of me." Shinji chuckled at that. He had spent the short flight over from Australia thinking about the direction his life had taken.

"I better go see what the Lieutenant wanted." Shinji sat up and stretched. He was tired, but he did want to know what Ford wanted. He couldn't think of anything in particular. The door banged open and Ford stomped in. "Speak of the devil."

"Did you get done what you needed to get done?" Ford asked. Shinji stared at him and realized, quite suddenly, that he had never told Chris his plans.

"Do you have somebody spying on me sir?"

"This isn't my first rodeo Blue," Ford stated. "It's not the first time I've lost men and had to deal with the survivors, so I'll say it again. Did you get done what you needed to do?"

"Yes sir."

"Good," Ford stated. "Something's come up."

"What?" Shinji asked, feeling his stomach drop.

"Our little break has been extended." Shinji's jaw dropped. That wasn't exactly the horrible news he had been expecting. After a moment of thought, he decided that good things never happened in the military for good reasons.

"Why?"

"The War Dogs are being reorganized and reassigned," Ford explained. "We are now the First Platoon of the Regiment's Quick Reaction Battalion."

"What does that mean for us?" Shinji asked.

"It means that our roles have suddenly changed a bit," Ford stated. "We're now a step above being just plain infantrymen."

"We're like Recon or something sir?" Chris asked.

"Different mission and nowhere near as elite," Ford stated. "We're the cavalry now. When somebody gets in trouble, we're going to be their guardian angels. As such we have to be trained for desperate situations. Blue, as a scout, you're being sent through the basic reconnaissance course in Australia."

"The basic reconnaissance course?" Shinji parroted. That was a course normally reserved strictly for troopers who were joining Recon or the senior scouts from regular infantry platoons.

"Yeah," Ford stated. "You've got five hours before your shuttle leaves. Get packed."

"Isn't there a rank requirement?" Shinji asked.

"Technically it's for NCOs and grunts going into Recon only," Ford stated. "They're still only going to let grunt E-3s and higher go through."

"But sir, I'm a. . ."

". . .brevet Lance Corporal," Ford stated. "Our deal still stands though. I'll take the rank back without a mark on your record when you return, but you can get it back after five drops. Shouldn't take long with our new mission."

"Gee, should I salute?" Chris mocked. "What about the rest of us?"

"Hope you're ready to train," Ford stated cheerfully.

(:ii:)

Shinji dropped his sea bag and dug in the pocket of his uniform jacket for his cigars. "I heard you got a bump for the school, Blue." Shinji turned and stiffened immediately. The man before him was the War Dog's senior scout, Corporal Yazzie, a man who had survived Big K in a scout suit and Shinji's most direct boss.

"Yes Corporal," Shinji answered as he self-consciously touched new rank sewn to his upper arms.

"I can't argue with the Boss's decision," Yazzie stated as he held out a lighter. Shinji quickly lit his cigar and handed it back. "I've seen your scores. You are damn good. Oddly enough, you're just as good in combat. Most people have a significant different between their performance in testing and their performance in combat."

"I'm just good with armor, Corporal," Shinji stated. Yazzie eyed him warily.

"You're not just good," he stated. "The other five are coming now."

"Are you going to the basic recon course too, Coporal?" Shinji asked. Yazzie lit a cigarette and took a long drag on it, exhaling through his nose.

"Yeah," he stated after a moment. "You know the deal with who's in charge of you, right?"

"Yes Corporal," Shinji stated. "I'm a trooper for Corporal Kurosaki until you need me to act as a scout." Yazzie nodded.

"This will be interesting," he mused. "You'll be among the first non-NCOs from the regular Infantry to go through his course."

"Do you think that will cause trouble Corporal?"

"Trouble?" Yazzie repeated. "Blue, you're a combat veteran. Not only that, but you were awarded a Terran Valor Medal. If anything, they're going to respect the hell out of you." Shinji frowned. He had never really thought of it, but he was a veteran now, of an intergalactic war for that matter.

(:ii:)

Ritsuko frowned as she looked at the e-mail spread across her laptop's screen. "Hey Maya."

"Yes, Doctor?" the brunette asked as she made her way over to where Ritsuko was sitting on the Eva's catwalk.

"Look at this." Maya kneeled and read the electronic message quickly.

"Misato's coming back?"

"On shore leave," Ritsuko stated. "She joined the Navy." Maya frowned and reread the message again.

"But she hates the Federation!"

"That's what I thought," Ritsuko commented. "Maybe she's still looking for Shinji."

"We should contact him immediately," Maya stated. "He said that he'd be on leave for a few more weeks. That's just long enough to meet her!"

(:ii:)

Ford frowned as he surfed through the computers onboard the White Feather. There was a little message winking in the corner of his screen. He clicked on it and frowned as an e-mail alert popped up.

As the platoon leader, all messages to absent platoon members were flagged for him so that he could forward them. A quickly glance at the sending e-mail address told him all he needed to know.

Blue had told him that there was no one at NERV he really wanted to talk to. Sorry to say, this R. Akagi from NERV would just have to wait to pester Blue when he got back. There was another message waiting. The sender's name was Klack, maybe Klack's little sister? After a moment Ford forwarded the message to his young apprentice.

It wasn't invasion of privacy of course. They were in the military. No soldier had ever had or every would have real privacy.

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. So. . .short. Sorry folks. I just couldn't add anything else. But there is good news! I just save a bunch of money. . .no really. I just found out that my favorite (sort of) super hero is going to appear in the X-Men Origins movie.

Knowing you guys the way I do, I have no doubt that you too will cheer the Merc with a Mouth's big screen debut.

In his honor, I'm working on my next screwball odyssey: Evangelion as told with Shinji Wilson, son of Wade! With heavy inspiration from my favorite cartoon show of course. I won't tell you what that show is, but I'll leave you with these parting words: Chicks dig giant robots.


	8. Chapter Eight

I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Eight:

To Shinji's surprise, Recon School wasn't the hardest thing that had ever happened to him; after all, he had managed to survive puberty as an Eva pilot. Physically, it dwarfed even his time in Siberia. In a strange counterpoint, the instructors treated each and every man as a fellow trooper, even as they pushed the students harder than ever before.

Oddly enough, most of the training didn't even take place in armor. The class spent two solid months crawling around in the rainforests of South America learning to track and survive. In true MI fashion, the trooper was the most important element. When the armor was added, it only served to strengthen the trooper.

As the youngest member of the class, Shinji managed to thrive. He knew enough to keep his mouth shut and listen when anyone, instructor or student, spoke and didn't know enough to not ask questions for fear of looking foolish. Some of the sergeants seemed to have a problem with that, refusing to admit that they didn't know something.

Upon their return from the jungle, Shinji had found three things awaiting him. The first and most important was a long letter from Melissa Klackiewicz. It really wasn't much, just a letter about how high school was going and other everyday life tidbits. Something so simple, yet it meant so much to Shinji. She had taken him up on his offer of someone to talk to. Maybe it just felt like some small redemption that he was helping Klack's sister in some small way.

The second was the Wounded Lion medal with apologies from the newly promoted First Lieutenant Ford. He had forgotten to file it and the award had only been authorized when the Doctor on Sanctuary had filed Shinji's prosthesis.

Finally, all the scouts from the War Dogs received the Sky Marshal Unit Citation medal. Turned out that the Sky Marshal himself had caught word of the War Dogs' exploits on Klendathu, it had just taken him a little while to get around to passing out awards. In keeping with MI tradition, the party after the awards ceremony had been completely beyond what was called for and classes had to be canceled the next day.

With a grand total of four months gone, Shinji had found himself graduating second of his class, conceding first place to Corporal Yazzie and the generations of hunting and scouting the man represented. The honor had brought along a nice plaque and a Meritorious Mass that all in attendance agreed was fairly useless, though a nice gesture. After all, plaques and certificates weren't shiny enough to interest women.

(:ii:)

"Blue!"

"Chris!" Shinji dropped his seabag and grabbed his adopted brother in a tight hug. "Damn good to see you!"

"Same to you," Chris stated. "Damn, you loose some weight?" Shinji frowned and glanced down at himself. Prodigious amounts of exercise just hadn't been able to make up for three good meals a day. He had stumbled out of the jungle a full fifty pounds lighter than before.

"A little," Shinji conceded.

"Of thank Christ!" Shinji turned and saluted. Ford returned the gesture and grabbed Shinji by both shoulders. "You are never allowed to leave again, Blue! You have no idea what it was like being stuck in the armory alone again! With all this damn training and breaking of my suits and paperwork, I haven't had any free time."

"Couldn't you have just gotten a new O&A sergeant, sir?" Shinji asked.

"Fleet's been stealing all the good buck sergeants at repple-depple," Ford growled. "Those bastards. I've been trying to train a new assistant, but he just ain't as good as you."

"He's fresh from Arthur Currie and not strong enough to smack things hard enough to get them working again," Chris stated in a stage whisper. "And the Lieutenant has no idea how to fix things otherwise."

"Damn right he isn't!" Ford announced. "And I'll have you know that the way I fix things is the best way to fix things. Only wet behind the ears O&A techs try to fix everything by breaking them open and fiddling around."

"Here's the paperwork, sir," Yazzie stated, managing to appear from nowhere and make them all jump.

"Thanks Yaz," Ford replied as he took the papers and leafed through them. "You have fun pretending to be your ancestors?"

"I'm Navajo, not jungle rat," Yazzie returned. "Been having fun with the commission?"

"Hell no," Ford stated. "I tried to ditch the bars and go with my stripes again, but I would have still had to do the same amount of paperwork, just at half the pay."

"Them's the breaks," Yazzie stated. "If you don't mind, I'm going to need all my scouts together for a meeting tomorrow afternoon."

"Ah, but I was going to stick Blue in the armory and make him fix everything while I finally get to be a real officer and take a nap," Ford whined.

"You know real officers don't actually sleep," Yazzie returned.

"Ain't that the truth?" Ford asked. "No problem, just kick all the kids out when you find where you want to meet."

"Thank you sir." Yazzie saluted and disappeared into the White Feather's interior.

"A word Blue?" Ford asked, glancing pointedly at Chris.

"Let me take your bags to your state room, Lance Corporal," Chris stated with a mocking bow. Ford led Shinji aside as the rest of the new scouts strolled in, saluting and requesting permission to board from Rotuno.

"We had a little snafu with your paperwork, Blue," Ford said simply.

"What kind of snafu sir?" Shinji asked. The Federation certainly seemed to fuck up paperwork with a flourish despite the fact that there was almost no paper involved.

"That medal I forgot was awarded to Lance Corporal Ikari," Ford stated. "Sorry about that by the way."

"No problem sir," Shinji replied. "But, is that bad?"

"Kind of," Ford stated. "If I made you a PFC again and most of us bought it on the next drop, it would look bad at your new unit and possibly on your record."

"Couldn't you just make a note about it sir?" Shinji asked.

"That's the problem with back alley deals, Blue," Ford stated, "you can't exactly take note of them on official paperwork."

"What does this mean sir?" Shinji asked.

"You're stuck with Lance Coolie," Ford stated. "Very clever young man."

"Wasn't this whole thing your idea, sir?" Shinji asked.

"Blue, I'm an officer now," Ford said with great dignity. "That means that I don't make mistakes. My minions make mistakes and right now, you're my chief minion."

"Wouldn't that be Sergeant Rotuno?" Shinji asked.

"No," Rotuno replied as he walked over to stand with them. "He knows that if he calls me a minion, I'm going to take those bars and stick them in some very uncomfortable places."

"I won't argued with that," Ford stated. "By the way, did you finish up those O&A technician correspondence courses?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, I'm going to have to ask you to take over as ship's O&A tech," Ford stated. "I really don't have time now that we're at full complement, but I'll help when I can." Shinji stared at the man. Ford wanted him to be the O&A sergeant? That was a lot of responsibility for a lance corporal, especially one who was really just a PFC in disguise.

"Alright sir."

"Great!" Ford exclaimed. "God, I wish I had a staff."

"You mean, one that wasn't stronger than you?" Rotuno was with a grin. "You've still got your scribe you can beat up, don't you?"

"Mo keeps forgetting to write his notes in Standard English," Ford grumbled. "I don't know about you, but I can't read squiggles."

"Arabic," Rotuno corrected.

"Squiggles," Ford stated.

"Arabic."

"Squiggles."

"Run along Blue," Rotuno ordered. "Me and the Lieutenant are going to go have a discussion somewhere."

"Right away Sergeant," Shinji replied, chuckling at their antics. It was good to see that friendship could survive commission, though neither Shinji nor Chris planned on trying.

(:ii:)

Shinji stared at the armory in horror. "What the hell?"

"Training was hard sir," Shinji's assistant stated.

"Stop calling me sir!" Shinji groused. "Come on, how could you guys break this many suits, Gil?"

"Training was very hard, Lance Corporal," Gilbert repeated. "Five other new guys were removed for medical reasons and one died."

"New guys can get themselves killed sitting around with nothing to do," Shinji stated. Not a single one of the sergeants and corporals in Shinji's BRC had been seriously injured, though not from lack of trying. "What the hell is that racket?"

"Sorry sir," Gilbert stated as he shut off his boom box. "I've just been playing it while nobody else was in here."

"Turn it back on," Shinji ordered. "It's fine and stop calling me sir! Now, how many of these suits require the wearer to be serviced?"

"Three," Gilbert replied. "All of them are new guys."

"At least the guys who've been around a little while managed to only slightly break theirs," Shinji replied. The door opened and Ford leaned in. "You're about to ruin my day, aren't you, sir?" Shinji asked.

"Probably," Ford replied. "The regimental commander is coming to inspect the very first platoon in his new First Cavalry Regiment." Shinji stared at his commanding officer.

"Wait, we're cavalry now?"

"Guess it sounded cooler than quick reaction regiment," Ford replied with a shrug. "We're the test bed. Every division will have a cavalry regiment if the Sky Marshal likes what he sees with us."

"Does that mean we're going to wear cowboy hats?" Ford laughed before pausing suddenly and scratching his chin with a thoughtful look. "That was a joke sir."

"I like that idea," Ford commented. Shinji sighed and reached down for his tool box and pulled out his new Louisville Slugger. "Baseball bat?"

"This'll work better than your sledge hammer," Shinji stated. "At least it won't scratch the paint. So, how much time do I have?"

"One week," Ford stated, "and I have to get all my paperwork in order."

"One week," Shinji repeated. "Gil, go get me those FNGs."

"Maybe you shouldn't be wielding a baseball bat when they arrive," Gilbert commented.

"Why not?" Shinji asked. "I remember the Lieutenant doing worse."

"You know I was working when those FNGs came in," Ford protested. "Not my fault they came in when I was carrying a sledge hammer. I'll make an announcement for you to get those guys. Nobody will argue if I'm making the call."

"Thank you sir," Shinji replied. Ford nodded and disappeared. "My first week back and I'm going to get fired." He grabbed a couple of chains dangling from one of the trolleys on the ceiling rails and brought one of the suits that didn't need a wearer to one of the four maintenance tables. "What do you say Gil, ready to be the next O&A guy?"

"Hell no." Shinji grinned. At least he hadn't called him lance corporal or sir.

(:ii:)

"Have you guys heard about the O&A Sergeant?" Pegg asked.

"I heard he wasn't a sergeant," Frost commented. "He's a lance corporal."

"So where the hell was this guy?" Taylor wondered.

"BRC," Frost stated. "I was asking Aquil about him. He's supposed to be this major league lady's guy. Aquil was telling me that they went to a party together and he walked out with two girls in a couple of minutes."

"Wow." The door to the armory opened and their fellow FNG looked around.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Gil, how's the armory treating you?"

"Pretty good," Gilbert stated, "though the new O&A tech is just as odd as the CO."

"Stop trying to scare them!" a deep, rough voice demanded from inside. "I am nowhere near that odd. Now, get in here!" Pegg and the rest ran inside and stood at attention. "Chill the fuck out!" The man wasn't as tall as Pegg had heard, but he was broad. He was wearing a set of green coveralls with the top pulled down and the sleeves tied around his waist. The sleeves of his T-shirt had been torn off to reveal his muscular, tattooed right arm and artificial left arm. "Who's Pegg?"

"I am sir," Pegg stated.

"I'm Blue," the man stated. "You can call me that." He turned to Pegg. "You were saying that you're having trouble with the right shoulder?"

"It gives me a bad blister after about an hour or two," Pegg reported. "I was told to have it looked at." Blue glanced up at his defensive tone.

"Hey, if it's giving you a blister, it isn't fitting right," he stated. "That's a serious problem in a suit that's supposed to fit almost perfectly."

(:ii:)

Ford pushed the door to the armory open and frowned. It was well past midnight and the lights were still burning bright. "You're going to need to sleep sometime Blue."

"After the regimental commander's inspection sir," Shinji replied. "We got done the suits that needed the wearers and we've finished two of the other suits. That leaves seven more plus routine checks. Just going on hours, it's doable, but it'll be tight and then there are the problems that always seem to pop up."

"Where's your assistant?" Ford asked.

"Taking a nap, sir," Shinji replied, gesturing to the other side of the armory. "He needs some sleep. My current record is five days strait and that was running around the jungle on minimum food."

"Don't forget, Blue. If you get sloppy and miss something here, it can kill a trooper," Ford commented as he stepped up to the opened suits on the first operating table. "Looks good."

"You can go over all the suits when I get done, sir," Shinji offered.

"I'm not going to spy on you Blue," Ford stated. "You're the ship's O&A tech. I'll check if you want, but I'm not going to go behind your back."

"Thank you, sir," Shinji stated.

"Unless you screw this inspection up," Ford added. "Fuck this up and I'm going to kick your ass."

"Better do it before I get back in the gym and start lifting," Shinji commented.

"Yeah." Ford sighed. "Don't worry. General Wheeler is a great guy. He understands that the manual isn't always right and he's willing to look the other way and plug his ears if it's the way to get things done. He was in my platoon at boot camp."

"Sounds like someone worked a lot harder than certain other people," Shinji commented.

"He was a naval officer," Ford stated. "The man's gunning for Sky Marshal and we'd be well off to have him there."

"Wow. I heard it's harder for naval officers going through boot than grunts going Navy OCS. Is that true, sir?"

"A lot harder," Ford stated. "A grunt going through navy OCS just has to learn to keep his pinky out and not crash the billion dollar space ship whilst trying to make it do barrel roles. The navy officer going through boot has to learn how to be a trained animal ready to leap on a target and smash it to a pulp with his fists at a single order. It takes a pair of steel ones for one of those gentlemen to make it through boot. The best Sky Marshals start off navy and end up grunt."

"That's something, sir."

"Want to take a crack at it Blue?" Ford asked. "Go be a teetotaler and shoot for the top?"

"I like this better," Shinji replied. Ford nodded and glanced around.

"Ever consider career?" Shinji paused and sat down. Career? Him? "Usually, guys wait until they've had a few more drops before they decided," Ford stated, "but you've given more then most already."

"I'll have to think about it, sir," Shinji stated. "What about you, sir? You're already half way there."

"Pfft," Ford snorted. "Look at me, Blue. I ain't ever going to make it past captain in the MI. How the hell would I succeed in the navy?"

"Learn some manners?" Shinji suggested.

"Better people than the navy have tried and it failed to take," Ford stated.

"You're going to have to start acting like an officer eventually," Shinji pointed out.

"I'll have you know that there are many command styles," Ford stated. "The Lieutenant was an OCS grad and had the slightly aloft manner of a man polished by other OCS grads and God bless him because there is no way in hell I could coordinate a battalion drop. Me? I'm the unpolished blade that still cuts shit up right. I'm a field promote and I'll be one till the day I die. They only way they'll get me to be a gentleman is to hypnotize me and I'm way too good to get caught that easily."

"You know," Shinji began, "I'd check the hypno-speakers in my rack before I go making declarations like that." Ford's face turned serious for a moment and he nodded thoughtfully before brightening suddenly.

"Oh, speaking of invasions of privacy, there's a letter waiting for you if you haven't checked your e-mail yet."

"Who's it from, sir?" Shinji asked.

"R. Akagi." Shinji's eyebrows shot up.

"The blond?"

"The blond from the party?" Ford asked. Shinji nodded. "Huh. Guess I should have forwarded you that one like I did with Klack's sister. I just saw the NERV address and figured it could wait. How is Klack's sister, anyway?"

"She's fine," Shinji replied absently as he pondered what Ritsuko's letter could be about. "She graduates high school in a few months and ships for the navy's OCS."

"Gonna be a pilot, eh?" Ford asked. Shinji nodded. "Must be pretty damn smart, just like her brother. He had a master's degree in advanced math shit."

"What was he doing in the grunts, sir?" Shinji asked.

"Satisfying his male urge to smash shit and cause general chaos," Ford replied happily. "Pretty much the same as the rest of us."

"Ah," Shinji stated. "Are we still the War Dogs sir?"

"The platoon wanted to switch to Ford's Fighters, but they stopped talking about it when I told them that Ford's Fuckheads was a better descriptive," Ford stated. "Besides, what would we do with our tattoos? Cross them out and get a new one?"

"I guess sir." Ford had to laugh at that one.

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Been a little while since I did a chapter for Infantry. I just wasn't sure how to handle Shinji's recon school. In the end I pretty much used the same manner in which I handled his boot camp. They rest of the chapter was just getting him situated back in the platoon. I'm planning on introducing more of the original cast in a few chapters.

So, was the reader response to the last chapter of Angel Eyes your way of telling me to cut the shit and get back to action and comedy or was it really that everybody kept getting directed to the other Angel Eyes?

I'll admit, I don't have a single romantic bone in my body. My current relationship status of zilch will attest to that. My record also backs it up; after all, two of my exes really did start off as such nice, normal girls. Maybe three. No. My mistake. She was ape shit from the start. Anyway, I'm stuck with AE again so look forward to more of this, Company of Wolves, and possibly a rewrite to an old story that I put on hiatus quite some time ago and still haven't heard the end of the bitching about it.

If anyone figures out what that one is and leaves another review of it telling me to get off my ass and hurry, I might just do it.

Now, I don't beg for reviews, but they are kind of fun to get. Plus there's the whole weenie wagging contests between authors about who's got the most reviews. I got to tell you guys, it's really kind of funny. I was going through the reviews for some of my older stories and I realized that some of you guys have been hanging around with me for a while. I mean, I've been writing for what, about six years now I guess and some of you guys have stuck with me all this time. That's really cool and I'm lucky to have so many loyal readers. So thanks to you guys for sticking with me through thick and thin. Or would that be crazy and crazier? Perhaps bloody and bloodier. You get the idea.

Of course I could also blame you assholes for driving me to newer and odder directions of crazy and violent. Meh. I guess I would have ended up here on my own anyway, just not quite so soon.

And another thing! Nobody I read is updating again! So, in utter boredom I went on over to the Naruto section again. Yeah. I almost clawed my eyes out. The show is somewhat cool because everybody's a ninja. How do those idiot authors plan to make it cooler? They stick all the characters in high school! What the fuck? I lived through high school. It was no where near as cool as being a ninja. Or being drunk for that matter. Which I am right now. Can you tell? I talk (type) a lot while intoxicated. By the way, my liver says hey, and would like to remind everyone that mercy killing is not murder.


	9. Chapter Nine

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Nine

Shinji stared down at the suit laid out before him. He was seriously considering passing it off to the navy as scrap, but that would force him to warm up and fit another suit. He picked up his sandwich and took a bite. "God damn it."

"Something wrong Blue?" Gilbert asked.

"Nothing." Shinji pushed up his magnifying glasses and rubbed his eyes. Five days in and almost everything was done. He had managed to teach Gilbert how to do all the necessary routine checks and the younger trooper was flying through them. "I'm going to need some coffee."

"Maybe you should take a nap," Gilbert suggested.

"I'll take one soon," Shinji responded. "We're actually looking to get done pretty damn early." The door burst open and Shinji stared at his platoon leader.

"Afternoon sir."

"Morning," Ford returned. Shinji glanced at his watch. It was morning, and not so late it was morning, it was almost afternoon again.

"Huh." So, six days in. He glanced at Ford. "You have yet to burst into my armory and give me good news sir."

"Regimental commander's inspection has been postponed." Shinji stared at Ford suspiciously and took another bite of his sandwich.

"Uh, that's good, right Blue?" Gilbert ventured. Shinji swallowed and set his sandwich down again.

"Wait for it," he stated.

"You haven't been in long enough to be that cynical, Blue," Ford stated. Shinji raised one eyebrow. "Okay, you got me. Our research station on Pluto got smeared. We're going in. What's our available number?"

"One hundred percent," Shinji stated. "Thanks to Gil here, all suits are ready to go. I haven't quite finished the full run down on all physical preventative maintenance checks and services for every suit, but the computers say they're good to go. What do you mean Pluto got smeared sir?"

"Long range asteroid bombardment," Ford stated, "like BA. We have measures in place around Earth, but the civilian fucks didn't give a damn about any other planet. We're already underway. Sky Marshal is sending us in first in case the asteroid had any hitchhikers."

"You think they're invading, sir?" Shinji asked.

"Hard to say," Ford replied. "It's never wise to try and guess what the bugs are planning. They ain't us. Lock everything down. We're skipping into Cherenkov. All MI are to report to their racks for a hypno session. That includes you Blue."

"Yes sir," Shinji replied. "Did you approve Corporal Yazzie's plan?"

"He did."

"Jesus!" Ford yelped, spinning to stare at the man. "I thought you were Navajo, not ninja."

"Cute," Yazzie stated. "All scouts are now in fourth squad. You'll be directly under me and Marko is my assistant. Good to go?"

"Yes Corporal," Shinji replied. "Go rack out Gil. I'll tie everything down." Gilbert nodded and walked out, respectfully rendering the greeting of the day to Ford and Yazzie. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this sir?"

"Because we have absolutely no idea what's happening," Ford stated. "We're charging full steam ahead blind."

"Good way to run smack into something unfriendly," Yazzie commented. "You up to this Blue? You haven't exactly slept in a while."

"I'm fine." Ford swung and Shinji's arm shot up, chopping Ford's punch aside with ease. "Want to try and sneak one over on me again or do you wanna waltz sir?"

"I'm good."

(:ii:)

Shinji checked his gauges and watched as the last of the platoon filed out of the armor locker. So far, there were no complaints about anything not working right. The very last man squeezed past Shinji, a feat only possible because of the scout armor's small stature. "Everybody is armed and armored, sir," Shinji called over the radio.

"Copy that Blue," Ford returned. Shinji followed after the last man, bringing up the diagnostic for his weapon as he did. Scouts were meant more or less only for scouting. They could fight, but speed was their best weapon. Even with all the times he had been told that verbatim, there was no way in hell they would ever get Shinji on the battlefield unarmed.

Scouts, as standard issue, carried a cut down carbine version of the plasma chain gun Shinji had used in Klendathu. Sadly, he only had half the ammo he used to carry. The suit's internal stores were mostly like that; half the bombs, half the juice for his flamer, but four times the jump juice of a standard Marauder. The rest of the weight difference was in the souped hydraulics and the advanced communication/surveillance packages.

The passageway opened up into the large drop room and Shinji quickly fell in with the rest of his squad. Ford and Rotuno were already moving down the ranks, checking every trooper's armor. Ford reached Shinji first and punched him lightly. "Not a single problem I can see. Good job Blue."

"Thank you sir," Shinji stated. Ford looked him over quickly before moving onto the next squad. Shinji took the moment to reflect. This was his second combat drop. This time there was no trooper to follow him around like a babysitter. He was combat tested and was expected to pull his fair share, more actually than the average trooper.

Ford moved to the front of the formation and gave them their time for the padre. Shinji stayed where he was, but company found him. "Blue." He glanced up and grinned as he saw Chris's name on the armor in front of him.

"Hey Chris."

"So, which part are you going to loose this time?" Chris asked.

"I was thinking about loosing this parasite named Aquil," Shinji shot back. Chris snickered.

"Try to come back in one piece," he stated, "for once."

"What do you mean 'for once'?" Shinji demanded. "We've only dropped once."

"Seems like we've been around a lot longer," Chris commented. "Take care." Shinji took his buddy's offered hand.

"You too." The platoon fell back into formation.

"Alright," Ford called loudly, "here we go again folks. You know the details. This is new shit, different style. We are officially making this up as we go. The Sky Marshal doesn't know what's going down. The division commander doesn't know what's going on. The regimental commander doesn't know what's going on. I know what's going on, of course, but you'll just have to figure it out.

"Officially, we're going to move in and see if any of our R&D big heads are still alive and kicking. Don't count on it. Unofficially, we are going to make sure that Pluto does not crawl. If we find bugs, it's the same shit, different day. We wipe them out. This is our God damned solar system. I will be dead in my grave before bugs get this close to my home. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" the platoon chorused. Ford nodded, a big brutal gesture in his armor.

"Good," he stated. "Sergeant!"

"Yes sir!" Rotuno answered.

"Load them up," Ford ordered.

"Understood," Rotuno replied. "Platoon! By sections, port and starboard, prepare for launch." The orders ran down the chain and Shinji climbed up into his capsule. The last time he had done so, all he had found at the other end was blood and death. Surprisingly, the old anticipation flared up. He was dropping again, into an unknown situation, as a scout no less. Shinji was grinning before he knew it. The navy, he decided, might be on to something when they called troopers crazy.

(:ii:)

"Close that circle!" Rotuno ordered. Shinji could already see the flankers moving to do just that. Second section, under Rotuno's command, had been tasked with encircling the research station and having the scouts sweep it. First section under Ford was checking the actual impact site. "Alright, I'm not getting anything on any freak. Scouts up!" Rotuno growled.

"Let's go folks," Yazzie stated. Shinji could see the short, jerky flashes representing the scouts' beacons separate from the main body. He readied his chain gun and moved with them, forming up into a column. "Marko, take a look around the place and tell me what you see."

"Roger Corporal," the assistance squad leader reported as he bounced off to circle the building. The rest of the squad moved to the loading bay door. It was the only entrance large enough to permit an armored man and really, only a scout could fit. It took Marko less than half a minute to complete a full circle of the building.

"What'd you find?" Yazzie asked.

"Place is pretty beat to shit," Marko reported. "I can't tell if the damage is from the shockwave or what, but there are a couple of large rips in the exterior." Yazzie relayed these observations to Rotuno.

"Harris and Mars get the door. Blue on point. On three." Shinji moved into position and raised his chain gun as Harris and Mars each grabbed half the door. On three the both pulled and ripped the door off its hinges. Shinji quickly moved strait into the loading bay beyond. He swept the muzzle of his chain gun around the interior and came up empty.

"Nothing here," he reported. He flipped up his snoopers and found only darkness. "Lights are out." He flipped down his snoopers again and moved them over to active night vision.

"Right," Yazzie stated. "Divide and conquer. Marko, take Blue down to the basement and look around. Everybody else, divide and sweep." Shinji glanced back at his assistance squad leader.

"This way Blue. One of the elevators going down is accessible through here." Marko led him to a large pair of sliding doors. They wrenched them open and Marko dropped down. Shinji followed after a moment later and found that Marko had already wrenched the door open.

"No pressure integrity," Marko commented. "I didn't see any damage from the outside." Shinji looked around the massive underground storage area.

"Over there." He moved to a massive hole in the wall. "This doesn't look accidental."

"Fucking hole," Marko stated. Neither wanted to actually say what the hole was or what might have made it. "Yaz."

"Yazzie here," Yazzie replied.

"We have a tunnel down here," Marko reported.

"Shit," Yazzie grumbled. "Rotuno just relayed over that the Lieutenant found a few tunnels radiating out from the impact site. Be careful down there."

"We'll be good. Watch your backs." Marko glanced back at Shinji. "You go that way."

"Got it." Shinji turned and moved towards one of the two doors leading out of the main storage area. The door had been torn off its hinges. Shinji stooped slightly to make it through the doorway and frowned as he found that standing straight in the hallway beyond ground his shoulders against the walls and the tops of his head against the overhead. "Fuck."

"What's up Blue?" Marko asked.

"I'm gonna have to repaint," Shinji growled. He brought his chain gun up and started down the hallway.

"And the Regimental CO will probably still swing by in a day or two," Marko stated cheerfully. Shinji sighed. "I found the other elevator. The airlock in front of it has been torn open. It's a strait shot to the upstairs."

"Right." Shinji froze as he heard a new sound, barely louder than the grinding of his suit against the walls. He swing back over to passive night vision, but no thermal images appeared. Sometimes, if the walls were thin enough, it was possible to see through them. He made his way through the blue-colored halls. The sound got louder and Shinji found another wrenched open door. Inside was the last thing Shinji wanted to see.

A charred and blackened bug looked back at him and slowly tried to crawl towards him. Shinji raised his chain gun and put two rounds into the bug's carapace. "Marky?"

"Here," Marko stated.

"It's Blue. I've got a bug,"

"You okay?"

"It's dead." Shinji stated. He kicked the bug onto its back. Its legs twitched and Shinji shot it twice more. He glanced around and saw only a single other human. He had the signs of explosive decompression, but both his legs were also torn off. His name tape read C. Jenkins. Shinji stepped out of the room and moved further down the passage way only to find an empty, wrecked science lab of some kind. "Basement's clear on my end."

"Same here," Marko stated. "Yaz? It's Marky. Basement's clear, but Blue found a bug."

"We've found a few ourselves," Yazzie stated. "They're all half-dead. Dangerous to a man, but not to a trooper. Building's clear now. Meet back in the loading dock."

"Hear that Blue?"

"I heard," Shinji responded as he stepped into the science lab in order to turn around. "Fuck." There were bugs in the solar system.

(:ii:)

Shinji felt the retrieval boat buck slightly as it nosed up to the White Feather. There had been no War Dog casualties, but the ride up was somber. "Alright, listen up," Ford's voice cut in suddenly. "We've got orders. We get off the boat and everybody reports to the auditorium."

"Thought it was a cafeteria," Rotuno grunted.

"Depends on the time of day," Ford stated. Even their antics seemed subdued. The doors opened and everybody shuffled out. They moved through the bay to the auditorium clumsily in their armor and found that the entire navy crew was gathered there as well. "Everyone's here, ma'am," Ford reported to the Captain.

"Thank you Lieutenant," she replied. She picked up a phone and spoke for a minute. The second she set the phone down, the massive screen that took up one whole wall blinked to like. It took a minute for Shinji to recognize the man. On board chain of command trees for MI only went up to the Division Commander after all.

"Good afternoon troopers, sailors," the Sky Marshal stated. "By now, you all know what was found on Pluto. I cannot stress how important it is for there to be no mention of the arachnid presence. This is a director order." The screen blinked out leaving the entire crew of the White Feather in silence. The trooper to Shinji's left leaned over and pressed their helmets together to open a private line.

"Well, Blue," Yazzie began. "What do you think of your first black op?"

"Very under whelmed Corporal," Shinji stated.

"Yep."

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all. I've been pretty busy, so it's just a short one this week. I really don't like last chapter of LC. I need to rewrite it. Classes are coming to an end and I've been pretty damn busy.

Oh, I read something amusing. Statistics stated that eighty percent of fanfiction writers are female. My personal statistics say that ninety percent of that number are fangirls and they don't actually count as writers. Personally, I count them as anti-writers, the natural enemy of anyone who writes fanfiction. Disturbingly, I've seen a few pop up in the Eva section.

I know how this is going to go. Poorly. Usually Eva attracts a few decent writers because it's so psychological (what the rest of us call a mind fuck). At least Eva isn't on Cartoon Network. Nothing kills the quality of a fiction section like that show appearing on CN. Don't believe me? Have you fucking been in the Naruto section lately? If you go over there and don't see a problem, it may very well be too late for you.

Oh, and I have actually started my long awaited Naruto story. If it ever gets posted, I think you guys'll get a kick out of it.

Oh again, I have an avatar now. I call him Mister Fuck-You. That's right, he has a hyphenated name. That pissed him off.


End file.
